<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Nothing bad will last forever by Mexcellent</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28288002">Nothing bad will last forever</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mexcellent/pseuds/Mexcellent'>Mexcellent</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Female Aragorn, Genderbending, Pregnant Aragorn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:41:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,862</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28288002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mexcellent/pseuds/Mexcellent</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Female Aragorn( Estel) joined the Dunedains in a mission to help the wood-elves in their war against the dark forces plaguing their woods. There, she met the crown prince who was known for his hatred of the race of Men. How they will deal with each other and what are the consequences of their encounter? Aragorn here is called Aragona or Ara for short. Do not forget to review.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aragorn | Estel/Boromir (Son of Denethor II), Aragorn | Estel/Legolas Greenleaf, Aragorn/Éomer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The road to Mirkwood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am not a professional writer but I like to write from time to time. English is not my first language so forgive me if you find some grammatical or vocabulary mistakes.<br/>I chose to make Aragorn female because there are not enough stories picturing a female Aragorn and I think the relationship with Legolas will be easier this way.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lord of the rings</p>
<p>Nothing bad will last forever</p>
<p>Characters: Aragorn (Estel)/Legolas Genre: Angst/Romance Warning: Genderbending female Aragorn known as Aragona - Ara for short.</p>
<p>Summary: 18 years old Estel decided to join the rangers in their trials to help and protect others regardless of their race humans, elves, hobbits even dwarves can use the rangers' aid. In her journey to Mirkwood to provide help for the ailing forest, she met a blonde elf prince and their fate was intertwined.</p>
<p>Chapter one The wind was blowing fiercely, their cloaks were dancing around them madly and their hair was tousled from the raging storm. Though they never stopped or slowed down their steeds' gait, they had a destination to reach and a purpose to achieve. Their too young chieftain led them bravely not caring of the hard road but careful and on guard of any danger that might face them. The rangers of the north were sturdy, courageous, and skilled people, living in the wild made their hearts knew no fear. They meet the dangers and the horrors of the world in the face and never cower in front of the hardships and trials of their lives.<br/>
Upon request from Lord Elrond, the mighty elven lord of Rivendell, the Dunedain are heading towards the old plaguing forest of Mirkwood to give hand to the wood-elves until the half-elven Lord gathers his troops and marches to aid King Thranduil and his people in the raging battles in his woods.<br/>
The leader of the Dunedain is Aragona, daughter of the late chieftain Arathorn who was killed by a group of orcs eighteen years ago when his daughter was only a few months old. She was taken under the care of elves in the last homely house of Elrond half-elven and the lord himself raised her as his own daughter. But their relationship became somehow strained since she knew of her real heritage as an heiress of Isildur. She left her only home among elves and joined her kindred two years ago at the age of sixteen. Aragona spent a whole year and a half learning the ways of the Dunedain in living, hunting, fighting, tracking and even celebrating under the guidance of her cousin Halbarad.<br/>
Lately, she was declared ready to lead her people on her own with a little help of her loyal cousin. This long travel to help the dark woods was her first big mission leading the rangers and she was adamant to end in success. "Be careful, we are going to enter the woods of Mirkwood. Stick together and don't stray from the main road or you will be lost forever in this thick old woods and be the next meal for a gigantic spider," the young lady warned her warriors sternly she did not want to lose any of her people to the hungry creatures of the woods. She never visited this realm when she was living in Imladris but her foster father gave her a map of the woods and drew the way they should take to reach the palace there safely.<br/>
"Do not worry Ara, we will follow you," her cousin Halbarad reassured her calmly. She smiled sweetly at his attempt to soothe her worries. He knew that she was stressed lately due to participating in this big hard quest and knew her fears of leading the people who trusted her with their lives into destruction. "Thank you, Hal. You are always a balm to my troubled soul," she whispered so only he could hear her words of gratitude. He rewarded her with a toothy grin and wink from his eye, she laughed at his silly antics and steered her steed into the entrance of the dark woods, the rangers hot on her trail no one wanted to be left behind.<br/>
They traveled slowly and carefully through a sea of green brown and yellow huge trees, they were following the directions in the map of Lord Elrond, they rode for six hours non-stop and they should stop for a little while to relieve themselves and have a bite to soothe their protesting empty stomachs and let their steeds take a much-needed rest.<br/>
They made a small camp in a clearing between the ancient trees but they did not risk making a campfire not to attract the big hairy spiders to their camp. They ate silently and they all were on guard for fear of not sensing any attack may come upon them and catching them unaware. They finished their hasty meal and readied themselves to mount their horses when a piercing scream followed by more frantic shouts and the sound of clanking steel meeting another steel reached their ears. Their hands simultaneously reached their weapons and their eyes searching for the source of those frantic sounds. Aragona knew they were sounds of a small battle occurring not too far away from their camp and it seemed that the tide of the attack not going well to one party of the participants. Her instincts told her to go and investigate and she always follows her inner voice.<br/>
"Hal, I am going ahead of you to investigate what is happening and I will take ten men with me. Please, lead the rest of the men towards the palace using the other map with you and I will follow you soon," said the brown-haired grey-eyed girl in a commanding voice fit for a leader killing the protests coming from her cousin instantly.<br/>
She chose ten of the men well known for their skill in archery because she didn't want to engage herself and the men in a close battle to evade any casualties on their part. They tied their steeds to sturdy trees and stealthily proceeded towards the sounds of clashing metals.<br/>
When the group of archers and their leader approached another small clearing, they can see clearly the two parties engaged in fighting. A large group of orcs was surrounding a small group of elves and from their clothes, they must be elves of Mirkwood. There were four elven warriors fighting and another figure was slumped against a tree seemed injured and the four elves were struggling to keep the orcs at bay.<br/>
Without hesitation, the young leader of rangers held her bow and picked an arrow and fired at the foul dark creatures with great accuracy, and the ten archers all fired at the same time felling the dark foes easily. The sudden attack put a halt to the proceeding force of orcs on the weary elves. The orcs were confused and before they knew what was happening, each one of them found an arrow stuck to their heads or chests killing them instantly.<br/>
The four elven warriors relaxed thinking that their fellow elven archers came to their aid but they tensed once again when a group of hard-faced humans broke through the trees coming in their direction every one of them holding bows and heavily armed with other weapons.<br/>
The tired and injured elven warriors raised their weapons once again to protect themselves and protect the precious slumped figure behind them. The humans noticed the hostile gesture of the elves and stopped in their place keeping a small distance between them. "Well met warriors of Mirkwood, we came in peace. We only want to help, no evil will befall you from us," the 18 years old leader of rangers uttered in perfect Sindarin (the language of elves) and raised her hand in a gesture of peace.<br/>
"Who are you? Why are wandering in our woods?" asked the leader of the four warriors harshly his voice revealing his suspicion of their intentions.<br/>
"We are rangers of the north, we came here to offer our help to King Thranduil as we were asked from Lord Elrond of Imladris." replied the foster daughter of the half-elven lord confidently. The elves relaxed their posture and sheathed their weapons.<br/>
" Welcome to Mirkwood our friends and thanks for coming to our aid," the elven leader greeted them warmly, he was really grateful for their perfect timing in arrival because the tide of battle was against them.<br/>
"It's our pleasure to offer to help hand," replied the young human leader cheerfully, " do you need any medical attention, we have enough herbs to share," asked the young lady when she noticed the bleeding cuts on their garbs.<br/>
The elven warriors felt relieved that the rangers were well- prepared, they do not have any supplies and all of them need medical care especially their golden prince who was still unconscious leaning on the tree behind them. They made away so the lady of the rangers could see their injured prince clearly. She gasped in shock when she saw his bad condition, her healing instincts kicked in, and rushed to his side kneeling beside him she started to assess his condition.<br/>
" Give me my pack, Hama and start building fire right now, I need to boil some water to clean his wounds and making some herbal medicine" ordered the young healer, feeling the urgency in the sound of his lady the ranger rushed to obey her orders.<br/>
Once having her pack, Ara took the needed herbs and handed them to the waiting ranger beside her,<br/>
"Put those herbs in the boiling water and pour some of the concoction in a cup and bring it to me as soon as possible," instructed firmly to the young healer. She readied the clean bandages, clean dagger to cut her patient clothes to have access to his wounds, needle, and thread to stitch the gaping cuts in his flesh. When Aragona held the dagger to cut the prince's clothes, the leader of the elven group approached her, a worried expression on his face.<br/>
" Exercise me, my lady, I have to ask do you have any experience in healing because if you don't know what you are doing, you might end hurting him more." Calan, a young ranger of age 25 felt scorching anger inside him at the way that elf talked to his lady, he found it hard to stay silent and let others spoke low of his leader.<br/>
" Lady Aragona is one of the top healers in the whole middle earth, she was an apprentice of Lord Elrond," the young ranger smiled in satisfaction when he saw the shocked expression on the elven warrior face. " I am sorry my lady, I did not know who you are and I only fear for him so much," he gestured towards the prone body of his prince.<br/>
" No offense is taken but you seemed to care for him so much who is he," she inquired while starting cutting the clothes off her patient. The elf hesitated for a few moments then he replied her truthfully,<br/>
" He is our crown prince, lord Legolas."<br/>
Ara's hands halted, she was surprised to find out the precious prince of Mirkwood at this state. She thought the prince should be safe in his father's halls away from battles and dangers of the woods. She felt respect for his humility and courage to lead his fighters himself not leaving the dangerous task to his subordinates.<br/>
"Do not worry Mellon-nin I will do my best to help him," she vowed silently that she would not fail in rescue such a brave warrior.<br/>
After cutting the clothes, she found a deep wound on his right side and another less deep cut on his stomach, and few cuts here and there in both his arms. She started with the deep wound, she dipped a clean cloth in the warm water and cleaned the wound carefully and stitched it skillfully, and bandaged it. She repeated the procedures in the other wounds. After finishing her work, she put everything again in her pack and held the herbal medicine, she turned to the waiting elf beside her who was watching her work anxiously.<br/>
"Please, held the prince against your chest so I can make him drink this healing tea, this is good for blood loss," she waited until the elf held the prince securely and she put the cup on the blond-haired prince's mouth. With great effort, he drank some of the tea and he choked on some of them.<br/>
Pained blue eyes opened slightly, his vision was blurry but he can make out a face in front of him and this face belonged to a Human. Panic clutched his heart and he did the only reasonable thing he can think of at that moment, he spat all the rest of the concoction on the human's face and in a swift motion he grabbed a dagger he always had in his belt and attacked the human in front of him, the tip of the dagger directed to the throat of the figure in front of him, he asked in a chilling threatening voice,<br/>
"Who are you, filthy human."</p>
<p>To be continued,,,</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The fool prince</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Nothing bad will last forever</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p><strong>Characters: </strong>Female Aragorn/Legolas</p><p><strong>Genre:</strong> Angst/Romance</p><p><strong>Warning: </strong>Gender-bending character. Female Aragorn is known as Aragona or Ara for short.</p><p><strong>Summary of the last chapter: </strong>The ranger of the North rode to Mirkwood to help King Thranduil in his war against the dark creatures plaguing his woods upon request from Lord Elrond of Imladris. On their way, they found a small group of elves fighting against a large group of orcs and came to their aid. Aragona used her healing skills to help an injured elf; she knew later that he is the crown prince of Mirkwood. What she did not expect that he attacked her while she was trying to give him a healing tea.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter two</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>    Aragona was stunned for a moment about the change of events, the last few moments, she was happily offering her skills in healing to the injured elf, and now she found herself under attack from the same elf. However, she regained her senses quickly and her annoyance at the stunt the prince pulled at her appeared on her petty face. She pushed the sharp blade slightly away from her neck and snorted in an un-ladylike way,</p><p>"Is this how the wood-elves repay people offering them help?"</p><p>   The muddled brain of the wounded prince could not comprehend what this adan was saying and he pushed the blade again closer towards the bare neck and inquired angrily,</p><p>"I won't repeat myself one more time, <em>who </em>are you, and what are you doing here in our woods stupid <em>human</em>?"</p><p>Ara's eyes flashed dangerously upon hearing another insult coming from the blond-elf and responded coldly;</p><p>"If I were, I would hold my tongue; you are in no position to talk to me this way."</p><p>"<em>How dare a scum as you speak to me in this way?" </em>spat the angry elf.</p><p>   The captain of the elves noticed that the other rangers tensed upon hearing their leader insulted, and their hands flied to their trusted weapons. He feared that they may attack them in retaliation and they are in no condition to wield their weapons because they were greatly weakened from the last battle and had different degrees of injuries. So he decided to try to pacify his prince and let him see their dire situation.</p><p>"My lord, please listen to me, those rangers came to our aid, and they helped in getting rid of the foul beasts that were heavily attacking us. Besides, the kind lady here offered to look after your injuries herself,"</p><p>   The ailing prince glared at his subordinate upon hearing what he said in favor of the humans and scolded him fiercely,</p><p>"Did you confess that you are lacking in defending your land and your prince to seek help from these <em>vermins</em>?"</p><p>   Aragona heard enough, she stood angrily and shoved the cup of the steaming herbal tea between the hands of the scolded captain and directed a deathly glare towards the wounded royalty,</p><p>"We are leaving, we have better things to do other than standing to listen to the snide remarks of a hallucinating elf," with a swirl of her cloak, she turned around and headed towards her loyal kinsmen who were waiting for her orders.</p><p>"Let's go, friends, we are needed elsewhere," she said softly to her strong warriors who followed her without question but not after directing dirty glares towards the stupid prince.</p><p>   When they reached their waiting steeds, she mounted her beautiful elven mare gracefully and ordered her men to leave three horses here to the wounded elves to use because it would be a hard task to carry their prince to the palace because all of them were injured if not lethally but their wounds will hinder them.</p><p>   The rangers rode after their young leader dutifully. After three more hours, the gates of a great palace loomed in the horizon; they all were relieved to reach their destination safely. The elven guards stopped them and questioned them about their purpose of visiting, and then two of the guards escorted them to meet the King who was waiting for their arrival in the throne hall. The two guards, the ten rangers, and the young leader of Dunedain stood in front of the regal king and bowed respectfully.</p><p>"Welcome, Rangers of the North into my lands," King Thranduil greeted them warmly.</p><p>"Thank you, my Lord. It is a great honor to finally meet you in person." replied politely the grey-eyed human girl; she raised her head slightly to look at the handsome king. She blushed slightly when she saw his smiling face.</p><p>"Enough of formalities, Estel Elrondian. How is your old father?" upon reading the look of surprise on the girl's young beautiful face. The king laughed slightly and continued;</p><p>"Do not be surprised that I knew who you are because your ada sent a letter two days ago telling me of your arrival and to take good care of you." the king winked playfully at her. Finally, Aragona found her voice and replied shyly,</p><p>"My ada is a bit protective of me, he always says that I am magnetic of troubles but believe me my Lord my ada is exaggerating sometimes." the king laughed even louder at her remark the young girl reminded him so much of his own son who always complained about his over-protectiveness on him. At the mention of his son, the king remembered that his son had not returned yet from his morning patrol and now many hours passed and there is no sign of his son.</p><p>"Estel, did you by chance meet a blond elf with deep blue eyes? He is my son Legolas, he went in patrol and has not returned yet?" Ara cursed silently upon hearing the name of the blasted elf but she saw the worry on the king's face and relented. She mastered the most sympathetic look on her face and said sorrowfully,</p><p>"Yes, my lord. I met him and his companions on my way," before the king felt relief she added, "but he was badly wounded."</p><p>To be continued,,,,</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> I am sorry this is short. I will try to make my chapters longer as the story going. English is not my native tongue so please forgive my grammatical and vocabulary mistake    </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  </p><p> </p><p>  </p><p>   </p><p> </p><p>   </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Your kind comments are highly appreciated.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Brother's Love</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I apologize if you found too many mistakes, it is hard writing while taking care of my two years old son.<br/>Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed it.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong>
</p><p><strong> Characters:</strong> Female Aragorn/Legolas</p><p><strong>Genre:</strong> Angst/Romance</p><p><strong> Warning:</strong> Gender-bending character. Female Aragorn is known as Aragona or Ara for short</p><p>
  <strong> Chapter Three</strong>
</p><p>   A dark-haired young elf paced in his father's study, he was too restless to sit down. He was worried and a bit furious at his father that he sent his youngest sister on a dangerous mission with unknown results. He was sure that his young sister is a mighty fighter, her skill in handling blades is legendary and her aim using arrows is almost as accurate as an elf. But, the road to the dark woods of Mirkwood is full of horrors, many lethal creatures dwell there, orcs, huge spiders, wargs, poisonous snakes, and so on. His twin brother followed his pacing form with his eyes; he was a bit amused at his brother's antics.</p><p>"Elladan, you should stop pacing, you will make a hole in the floor," commented sarcastically his twin Elrohir. The older twin whirled around suddenly glaring at his younger brother,</p><p>"Are not you worried about Estel? She is too young to ride to Mirkwood without anyone of us accompanying her."</p><p>"She is not alone; she has Halbarad and a group of the faithful Dunedain with her. They will make sure that no harm will befall her." The younger twin tried to soothe his brother's worries.</p><p>"It is not the same Ro. We are elves, we can sense danger from afar so we can be prepared or run away if the danger is too great but they have not the same privilege." argued the older brother.</p><p>"It seems that I am unable to convince you," sighed dejectedly the younger and quieter elf. The door of the study was suddenly opened and the regal form of their father entered the room. His eyes fell on his arguing sons who fell silent when they noticed the additional presence.</p><p>"Why were you arguing so loudly sons, is there any trouble?" wondered the elven Lord calmly. The agitated older twin locked his troubled eyes with his father and inquired a bit angrily.</p><p>"Why did you ask Estel to go in this fool mission, Ada, she might get her-self badly hurt or even get killed?" The wise older elf raised his eyebrow when he felt a hint of accusation in his son's tone of voice; he approached his older son and put his hand on Elladan's shoulder to calm him.</p><p>"Dan, you know that I would not have sent her to meet her death if not I was really confident in her skill."</p><p>"I knew Ada but I am still worried about her, we should have gone with her," protested the young elf, he was too stubborn to admit defeat.</p><p>"We all love her Dan, why are you so affected with her departure," inquired his father his frustration appearing on his face. All he got is silence as an answer but a fleeting expression on his son's eyes told the father all that he wanted to know.</p><p>"Do you love her Elladan romantically?" the elven Lord asked his son, dread filling his heart waiting for the answer to his question. His son cast his head down, he did not have the courage to look his father in the eye. A small nod was his answer; a loud gasp came from his twin brother who was oblivious of his twin's feeling for the young girl. An angry look appeared on their father's face, he did not see this coming before. He pulled his hand away from his son's shoulder and hardened his face,</p><p>"Are serious Elladan? How did you let yourself fall for an Adan and not any Adan but the one we raised as your sister? How did you let yourself sink so low?" snapped the elven Lord furiously. The scolded young elf tried to find his voice; he was a little scared of his father right now. He rarely finds his father this angry; he is always the image of tranquility and wisdom. He knew that Ada's anger is not something to be taken lightly, so he tried to choose his next words wisely but it seems that this really hard task.</p><p>"Please, Ada, do not be angry. I had not fallen for her intentionally, it grew inside me little by little and before I knew it, I found myself deeply in love." The father in Elrond stirred to life upon hearing the small voice of his older son whom he loved dearly. He waited so long for one of his children to find a suitable person and get married and give him some grandchildren. God knows how he wished for this to come true and now when this finally happened, he had to step on his heart as a father and became the cruel person who has to kill this small spark of love inside his son.</p><p>"Elladan, you knew quite well that I won't approve to any one of my children to tie himself or herself to a human. You knew the meaning of that Elladan. You will lose your immortality; you will get old and die one day. We cannot lose you, I lost enough of my beloved people, do not lengthen the list."</p><p>"It is my own choice, Ada. I will follow my heart; even I have to be mortal." The sound of flesh met flesh filled the study as a hard slap landed on Elladan's face.</p><p>"You selfish ungrateful scion of Sauron, you won't only get yourself killed. Your brother will die of grief, you share the same soul. Your sister will be devastated beyond repair and I am sure, I cannot survive losing both of you. What will your mother feel when she hears in Valinor about our demise?" all the anger and fury drained from the old elf and sagged on a chair behind him heavily. He hid his face on his hands and a small sob escaped his mouth, his sadness and sorrow surrounded him like a blanket. Both twins moved simultaneously and knelt before their father putting comforting hands on his knees but the older brother was the one who spoke,</p><p>"I am sorry Ada, please, forgive me. It pains me that I caused you such grief and sadness," the young elf apologized sorrowfully tears streaming down his cheeks, he felt horrible and so fool to add to his father's pains. The Lord of Imladris raised his face and his teary grey eyes met the pair of grey eyes of his older son, he could easily read regret and sorrow in his heir's eyes. He raised his arms and engulfed his son in a bear hug.</p><p>"I am sorry too, Dan. I was so harsh on you and I am sorry to be the one who stood in the way of your happiness but I had to stop you. Please, forgive me ion-nin"</p><p>"All is forgiven Ada", the father and the son hugged each other tightly before they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Instantly, the Lords of Imladris stood and wiped their teary eyes and a loud "enter" came from the oldest elf. </p><p>A young elven guard opened the door of the study and bowed to his lords, and directed his words to his Lord,</p><p>"My Lord, lord Glorifendl, returned from his visit to Lorien and he went to refresh himself after the long travel and he will join you in an hour," reported the young elf dutifully and waited for any order.</p><p>"Thank you, Earl. You are dismissed." The ancient Lord turned his face to his sons with a slight smile and said "Now that Glorfindel came from Lorien, we can prepare to march to Mirkwood and save Estel from whatever mischievousness she put herself in" two squeals of delight followed their father's words and the two brothers spoke at the same time,</p><p>"Then, we will go to pack" and both of them rushed out of their father's study too eager to wait for any second. His father shook his head and laughed at their silliness.</p><p>
  <strong> Meanwhile, in Mirkwood</strong>
</p><p>   A tall regal blonde elf stood from his throne, he was too shocked and so worried after knowing of his son's injured state.</p><p>"Estel, is he badly injured? Do you think I have to send for a healer and some guards to escort them home?" the king of woods asked worriedly.</p><p>"Do not worry my Lord, I patched the worst of his wounds on my way here, and we left three horses to carry him and his companions swiftly home. He would be here in no time," the young human girl spoke quietly to the worried father; she wanted to soothe his growing worries.</p><p>"Oh! Thank you, Estel. God bless you, you did me a great favor" the handsome king thanked the young lady gratefully.</p><p>"Do not thank me, my Lord, it is our duty to help others," she smiled sweetly at the old elven king. The king patted her lightly on the back and rewarded her with a smile of his own.</p><p>   The sound of racing hooves of horses filled their ears followed by some shouts from the guards who rushed to aid the injured prince to dismount and other guards rushed to inform the healer to prepare a bed in the healing quarters for the injured party of elves. The king rushed from the throne room to the front door to see his son and make sure of his safety himself. He was followed by his guests who found it would be rude to stand there and do nothing to help their host. The lady warrior and the ten archers followed the King out on the entrance to the great halls of the palace. The blonde elven King approached his wounded son who seemed to be half-conscious and hugged him lightly not to put stress on his son's scared body. The dizzy prince opened his eyes recognizing his father's touch, he saw the fear and worry on his father's face and smiled half-heartedly to reassure his father of his well-being and said softly,</p><p>"Do not worry, Ada, I am fine."</p><p>"The healer will be the judge of your state Legolas, I learned the hard way no to listen to your "I am fine" statement," commented the older royalty sarcastically. The younger blond elf laughed softly then grimaced clutching his wounded stomach to subdue the pain. The father put an arm around his son's waist to support him in his short trek to the healing ward knowing that his son will refuse to be carried in a litter. They walked few meters and the prince stopped when his eyes landed on the infuriating human girl that he met in the woods, anger flashed in his sea-blue eyes,</p><p>"What are you doing here dirty wench"</p><p>To be continued,,,</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I apologize if you found too many mistakes I am trying to write while taking care of my two years old son. It is impossible to concentrate. Thank you for reading.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. snow fight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Nothing bad will last forever</span>
  </strong>
</p><p> </p><p><strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I do not own those characters.</p><p><strong>Characters of the story:</strong> female Aragorn (Aragona)-  Legolas-  Elrond-  Tharanduil.</p><p><strong>Main couple:</strong> Female Aragorn and Legolas, there are many little couples.</p><p><strong>Genre:</strong> Angst/Romance.</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> You may find some characters behave a bit differently than usual but they serve my story this way.</p><p>I appreciate your support. I do not know if you like Gender-bending characters but I wish you like them.</p><p>I hope to find more fiction about female Aragorn or pregnant Aragorn. They are really scarce. I like reading them so much. I am writing this story to encourage all of you to write more so we all enjoy reading.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Chapter Four</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Thranduil POV:</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>   When I heard the sound of the speeding steeds into my inner courtyard, my heart almost exploded from worry and fear for my only son. I rushed out of my throne room running all the way to the yard in an un-king-like way, all grace forgotten. I heard footsteps following me out but I paid them no attention, all my attention was on my wounded Greenleaf.</p><p>   I found him semi-conscious leaning heavily on one of the royal guards who are always following him everywhere. My heart bled to see my son so weak and hurt so I lunged forward to catch him in my strong arms. I felt relieved when he acknowledged me. I put my arm around his waist to support him; he is too stubborn to let me carry him.</p><p>   He suddenly stopped, his deep blue eyes flashed in burning anger. I did not know what the reason for such an aggressive reaction was, then he blurted out some words to someone in front of us, and to my dismay, those hateful words were directed to the lady of Dunedain.</p><p>   I was mortified about what happened so I tried to cool the situation by addressing my ailing son who must be delirious to call one of our guests "<em>dirty wench</em>",</p><p>"Legolas, this is Lady Aragona of the Dunedain," I thought by revealing her identity he will realize his mistake and apologize but he shocked me, even more, when he said coldly,</p><p>"Yes, Adar. I knew who she is" I glared at him and whispered to him so our guest would not be more offended by his strange words,</p><p>"Stop your childish behavior at once, ion-nin. Do not embarrass us any farther" I hissed under my breath. I was more embarrassed when we heard a soft laugh coming from the doorway; I raised my eyes and found the young lady's eyes twinkling merrily and a wide smile on her pinky lips and she said good-heartedly,</p><p>"Do not worry my Lord; I am not offended at all. I heard things far worse"</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Legolas POV:</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>   I was stunned when my eyes landed on this specific human girl. The last thing I expected to see her standing in my father's courtyard comfortable as if she owned the palace. I could not help myself, insulting her came natural to me. But my father's reaction left me frustrated; he thought that I was embarrassing him. I could not fathom why he defended this Adan, I picked my hatred for men from my father after all. Seeing him trying to gain her favor was grating on my nerves.</p><p>  Her odd reaction to my insult was confusing and disturbing. How she managed to laugh at my insult as if it was a funny joke. The next words of my father and king flared my anger to the highest level, he addressed her apologetically,</p><p>"Forgive me my lady; he is not always like that. His wounded state seemed affecting his judgment." I pushed myself away from my father's supporting grasp and with a defiant glare directed to my sire I said</p><p>"I can manage myself from here, Adar. I will show myself to the healing quarters"</p><p>   I heard my father's objection to my action but I did not heed to his words. I started my slow trek towards the open gates of the palace but I un-intentionally stumbled and started to fall with great speed. I prepared myself for the agonizing pain that will surely come upon contact with the hard ground but I felt someone tenderly holding me stopping me from my free fall.</p><p>    I raised my eyes to see the person who saved me from further hurt and I found my eyes locked with the brightest blue-grey eyes I have ever seen. I cannot stop staring to these deep eyes and I witnessed some fleeting emotion on the lovely eyes but soon the magical connection severed when we heard the rushing footsteps coming towards us from many directions. My father and my personal guards, all of them dashed to help to straighten and to support me. The captain of my guards and my father, each one of them holds one of my hands dragging me away from the soft hold of the Dunadan girl.</p><p>   Before they took me away from the young girl, I locked my eyes to hers one last time and I was satisfied when I saw a growing blush appearing on her smooth young face. I turned my face away with a smug grin playing on my lips; I was assured that I did not lose my magical effect on ladies.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Aragona's POV:</span>
  </strong>
</p><p>   I felt heat creeping to my face when the prince's ocean-blue eyes staring at me openly. I was ashamed of myself for showing my vulnerable side to him. I should have had more control over my emotions; I could not understand why my heart was pacing so quickly as if it was trying to escape my chest. I put my left hand over it trying to calm it but when my eyes landed on the retreating figure of the prince, it started hammering my chest all over again.</p><p>   I was distracted from my thoughts when few elven servants came and ushered me and my rangers to the guest rooms prepared for us. My room was spacious and had a big window with velvet curtains, the bed was big and the linens were golden and velvet. There was a bathing chamber attached to the main bedroom, I wasted no time to indulge myself in having hot bath. It soothed my aching muscles, there were many scented vials containing soap and shampoo. I washed my long hair with flowery scented shampoo and I dumped my head under the water to rinse my hair. I finished my bath and I abandoned my traveling attire and wore one of my dresses which were made in my home in Imladris.</p><p>   I chose not to rest immediately, I wished to check on my companions before succumbing to a night of blissful sleep. I left my room and wandered in the long corridors of the elven palace. The corridors were like maze; I failed to find my way and got lost. I found myself in front of a big hall and this hall leading to a great chamber full of beds and the familiar scent of herbs filling the air. There, I found few elves hurrying here and there carrying herbs, bandages and small vials containing colorful substances. Two of the elven healers were trying in vain to hold a struggling person who seemed to refuse to let them bind his wounds. Upon further inspection, the struggling form was no one other than the arrogant prince of Mirkwood.</p><p>I heard the healers trying to convince the crown prince saying,</p><p>"Please, your highness let me bind these wounds. Your ceaseless struggle made the stitches undone and blood started to soak the bandages."</p><p>"Unhand me at once; I do not need you hovering over me all the time. My wounds will heal soon without your fussing." The blonde-haired elf growled defiantly giving the healers his most intimidating glare. The young healer felt nervous from the frightening aura the prince emitting but he was determined to finish his work.</p><p>"I am sorry, my lord, I cannot release you before you promise me that you will sit still for me to bind your wounds." the elf apologized softly.</p><p>"If you did not release me, you would lose that hand," cried angrily the wounded prince. The healer gulped in shock and released the heir of the kingdom. The golden prince smiled in triumph, he would leave this confining space and return to his bedroom. He swung one leg on the side of the bed and soon the other leg joined it, he started to stand up but a hand stopped him from fully standing. The prince glared at the person who dared to stop him and he has met the same infuriating girl with captivating eyes.</p><p>"I would be honored if you let me wrap this bandage for you, your highness," she said smoothly while taking the bandages from the slacking hands of the shocked healer. She knelt gracefully in front of the bed where the prince sat; she quickly and skillfully wrapped the bandages around his chest and stomach. She finished and stood to her full height, she turned to the young elven healer and addressed him in a commanding tone,</p><p>"Give him some painkillers and put some Atheleas on a boiling water, its fragrance will soothe his nerves and calm him" after that she left the healing ward silently continuing her search for her cousin and the other rangers.</p><p>
  <strong>In Imladris:</strong>
</p><p>The preparations for the march to Mirkwood were going smoothly. The weapons were sharpened, the horses were readied, the herbs were stacked and the food prepared. The warriors were in high spirit, everyone was eager to help their brethren in the dark woods. The lord of Imladris mounted his mighty elven flanked him from each side one of his twin sons, their eagerness was palpable. The Lord cleared his voice and addressed his warriors,</p><p>"My brothers in arms, this day, we will march to help our kindred in their raging fights against the growing darkness plaguing their woods. I want you to lend me your strength, your courage, your swords and bows. Are you ready?" a chorus of approval followed his question.</p><p>"Let's go warriors of Imladris" with that the Lord turned his back to his home and set out towards their destination.</p><p>   The twins were racing each other in the front of the marching troops; their laugher followed them through the woods. The older twin slowed his horse slightly and rode beside his father," Ada, do you know with our pace how long our journey will take to reach the halls of Thranduil?"</p><p>"We will reach there within three weeks if we maintained this gait" the wise elven Lord replied patiently.</p><p>"Okay, ada." said Elladan. <em>"Wait for me Estel, I will join you soon,"</em> thought dreamily the dark-haired young elf.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <span class="u">Next-Day in Mirkwood: </span>
  </strong>
</p><p>   The young elven prince got up feeling well-rested and pain-free. He found a set of clean clothes on the foot of his bed. He changed hastily and left the healing quarters. He was heading to the throne room to see his father to let him know that he felt better and he would leave for his own bedroom when he heard loud laugher and sounds of splashing and hitting from the courtyard. He went to check what was happening, he had to duck to evade a speeding projectile. When he found that no other projectile was thrown his way, he raised his head carefully to see who the culprit was. He found a rare scene in front of him, some elves from different ages and some humans from the rangers' party playing in the snow. They seemed to have a snow fight, they were running, throwing snowballs, and laughing merrily. His eyes darted here and there to inspect their faces, all of them were enjoying their time then his eyes landed on the only human girl who was grinning madly. Their eyes locked again and he did something he had not done since he had been a little elfling. He picked some snow and made them a ball and threw it quickly in the girl's direction, the girl was too shocked to move and the snowball collided with her face hard. The prince laugher's echoed through the courtyard made everyone staring in wonder. 
Life began to be interesting thought the young prince. 
  Thee snowball fight lasted for a couple of hours when it ended everyone was soaked to their bones but their hearts were light and happy. An ancient and regal figure was observing the fight intently with happy gleam in his deep blue eyes.
"Finally, I saw you laugh freely my Greenleaf" he turned his back to the retreating figures, he had work to do after all. The festivals of the new year are upon them in three weeks time and he wished that everything would be perfect this year.</p><p>To be continued,,,
,</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Happy new year everyone. I wish you all good luck in this new year. If you enjoyed reading this chapter, wish me a happy year. Again forgive me if you found any mistakes.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Battle against Evil</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I gift this story to all female Aragorn fans or bottom Aragorn fans. Please, enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter five</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <b> <span class="u">Battle against Evil</span> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>   The playing parties of elves and men stopped playing after a couple of hours because the humans felt cold, their fingers became numb from making snowballs.  Some of the elves, especially, the young ones felt exhausted from all the running, fighting, ducking or being hit.</p><p>   The rangers departed to their chambers to have hot bath to banish the coldness from their shivering bodies. The elves went their own ways to resume their abandoned duties. The elven prince also went to his original destination to his father's throne room. He greeted the guards with a nod of his head and pushed the door open.</p><p>   Inside the throne room was a big chaos, the court councilors, the king's personal advisors and some highly-standard officers were arguing between each other about something. His father and King was also participating in the heated argument, his elven handsome face was creased into a deep frown. His deep blue eyes were flashing angrily, his usual calm voice was raised into higher tone as he was trying to control the tide of the debate.</p><p>   No one paid the standing prince any attention so he tried to listen to their arguments to catch what they were feverntly discussing. He gathered from their heated words that they were discussing whether they will held the new year festivals or cancel it because of the severe and non-stop attacks of the evil forces on their woods.</p><p>  The king was siding with the group preferring to continue with the preparation of the festivals and most of the court councilors were against this idea. They were preferring to focus on their battles with the vile creatures. The prince found that he had to give his own opinion so he proceeded towards where the king was sitting and he raised his voice to catch the attention of all the attendances,</p><p>
  <strong>"Please, gentlemen, may you let me give my word on this matter?" </strong>
</p><p>  All the eyes of the elves turned to the prince and he was glad that his words would be heard carefully.</p><p><strong>"We are going every single day for the past few months to ceaseless skirmishes. Our soldiers' spirits were heavily affected with the dark attacks. We need something to lift the spirit of our people, we should give them respite even for one evening. Therefore, I am against cancelling the festival."</strong> most of the attendants nodded their heads in approval but one of the councilors was not persuaded yet. He stood defiantly and asked a question,</p><p>"<strong>Then what will happen if the enemy strikes while we are celebrating. There will be a carnage." </strong>the other councilors and officers felt disturbed after the words of their fellow sank on their minds. But the heir to their kingdom was ready to respond, </p><p>"<strong>Do not worry my friend, this possiblity ran through my mind so I myself will lead a group of volunteers who will scout the perimeter around the area where the festival will be held to insure that nothing bad will happen." </strong></p><p>The suggestion of their prince met the approval of all the attendants so it was settled that the festival will be held in less than three weeks within that time the healing of the prince will be complete, and he will be able to lead the group of volunteers.</p><p>The news of the festival and the volunteering reached the ears of Aragona so she also made a small meeting with her subordinates of rangers and she told them of her decision that she will volunteer to stand watch that day to make sure that the wood-elves at least have one evening to enjoy themselves.</p><p>Most of the rangers volunteered to join her and she went to the king to inform him of hers and her men's decision. The king was so grateful and thanked her profusely, she just smiled timidly and went on her way.</p><p>The preparation for the festival was in full swing, all the wood-elves were working non-stop to make the celebration as perfect as possible in their current circumstances. The Dunedains also helped in hunting for the meat needed for the festival. Aragona volunteered to help the kitchen staff in preparing some new dishes she had learnt either in Rivendell or from the wives of the Dunedains. </p><p>On the other hand, Legolas was busy on dividing the volunteers into small groups. Each group will be consisted of twenty warriors, ten of the elves and ten of the humans. Although, he was not that happy to include these humans in his plans but he had no other choice. The number of the volunteers from elves were not so many. And he knew that his elven-warriors in great need of this respite. He only wished that those humans knew how to handle the dark forces effectively. </p><p>It was his first time to fight beside humans and he did not know exactly what to be expected from them. What they are capable of and what they are lacking. He could ask their leader, the young brown-haired young woman but he did not want to raise her hopes and making her think that she gained his trust or sympathy. Accepting hers and her warriors' help was out of necessity, nothing more.</p><p>The king was observing the flow of preparations with great satisfaction. Everything was going as planned and what added to his pleasure that a message arrived from Imladris informing him that the troops of the Noldor-elves are on their way to his woods. Finally, he will get the needed help to force the dark minions of Sauron out of his forest. </p><p>Two weeks and half passed, the next day, the festival will start so the prince and his warriors got ready to set off to scout the surrounding area. They had six groups of warriors each group has a leader and all leaders were from elves to the dismay of the human warriors but they calmed down when their young lady told them of the importance that the leader should be familiar with the dark forest to lessen any un-necessary encounters or life sacrifices.</p><p>The main force would be consisted of the prince and twenty of the elven-warriors and the lady of the rangers and another twenty of the human fighters. They will scout the most dangerous area in the forest, they would head to the south where most of the attacks came from. Another twenty warriors will go towards the north of the forest, another two groups will head east and west and the last group will serve as a back-up and they will scout in the middle of the forest.</p><p>All warriors were armed heavily, their horses were saddled with their packs which were full of food, water skins, and medical supplies. Upon the signal from the stoic-faced prince, all the groups left the palace courtyard and went to their definite destination. Lady Aragona rode beside the blond prince, her mid-back soft brown hair was flying after her. </p><p>During their ride, more than one time the eyes of the prince travelled towards the young lady who was riding next to him. Every time his eyes landed on her curvy body, her flawless face and her soft long hair, he felt strange heat ran through his whole body. He couldn't explain what was happening to him because he had never felt like that before.</p><p>For the last two weeks, the prince took his time to watch the human girl and he was astonished somewhat of her. She was speaking Sindarin fluently albeit she has the accent of the Noldor-elves. He also observed her sparring with some human and elven warriors and he had to admit that she is really skilled, agile and tactical. She is a master in swordplay, she has some experience using the twin elven knives and hunting knives.</p><p>Her skill in using the bow is remarkable. She hit the eye-bull with effective ease as if she was born with a bow with her hand. But what was bewildering that all her moves, techniques and actions were of an elf not a human. When she moves, she makes no sound as if her feet don't touch the ground. Those traits of her were unheard and non-common between humans. </p><p>The prince also painfully noticed the natural beauty the small form of the young lady possesses. Her light brown soft strands were framing her milky noble face. Her cheeks still have the chubbiness of the children which show how young really she is. Her lips are cherry red, they seem soft and full. The most stunning of her features are her beautiful bright grey-eyed. They seem sparkling when she is happy or mischievous, they can also look deep into your soul if her gaze directed intensely towards you. </p><p>The elven-prince sighed, he should focus on his surroundings not in vain things like observing young chicks. He turned his eyes away from her and opened all his senses to try and detect if there are any dangers around them. The main group of volunteering warriors were approaching the southern borders, all the elven-fighters were tense and cautious. They fully knew the dangers of their destination, they were near the main settlement where the dark forces came from most of the time.</p><p>They never ventured this far away from the safety of their home. Every archer readied their bows or swords, they have to be careful than sorry. The prince gave orders to his fellow-fighters to dismount and tie their horses because it will be safer for them to proceed on foot. Riding would reveal them to the enemy sooner and it will diminish their chances for surprise attack.</p><p>The prince and the lady went forward towards the dark minions main camp with thirty-five warriors. They left behind five warriors to guard the horses and their supplies.</p><p>Meanwhile:</p><p>The troops of the Noldor-elves arrived at the borders of the dark forest of Mirkwood. They were glad that their long journey will end soon and they will be able to stretch their stiff legs and crumpled backs. Lord Glorfindel gave orders to some warriors to go in front of them to scout the surroundings to warn the main troupes if there is any danger.</p><p>Elladan volunteered to lead the scout party. He was after all the best tracker and he could read the signs of the wild life skillfully. He was granted the permission so he did set off towards the nearest border of the forest and that was the southern borders.</p><p>The blonde prince suggested that elves would go first through the trees to spy on the orcs camp to estimate the number of their forces. The humans accepted his suggestion reluctantly. Especially, Aragona who saw that dividing the main group may endanger them should any group encountered big numbers of enemies. But the prince assured them that to they will return soon.</p><p>The elves came closer and closer to the camp and they spotted small group of orcs and Yurk-hai about fifteen. They expected that the numbers of the dark creatures would be greater than that. They picked their bows and with the prince's signal, the arrows showered down the dark minions killing some of them instantly but some of them got the time to wield their weapons and tried to charge at the elven-archers but had no luck. They all fell with arrows hitting their thick skulls,necks,chests or hearts killing them in a blink of eye. The elves cheered for their easy victory but their happiness cut short when they realized that they walked into a trap.</p><p>The orcs in the camp were only diversion to conceal their main forces. They heard the growls of wargs and the black tongue of orcs from their right and left so the elves were practically surrounded. The first few dark arrows released and fortunately the orcs' aim were not that perfect so they only hit three of the elves and the rest of them evaded the dark projectiles expertly.</p><p>The elves responded with their own arrows felling few wargs and some orcs but the sheer number of the foul beasts pressed the elven-warriors tightly. Some orcs attacked with their dirty rusty scimitars managing to stab some elves here and there and their cries of pain filled the clearing where the ongoing battle blazing. Prince Legolas used all his arrows and resorted to use his twin-elven blades. </p><p>He used them effectively and skillfully cutting the foul creatures around him like a knife cuts butter but the wild wargs were another story. They were huge, and they are moving fast, one hairy beast attacked the prince from behind and the prince fell on his stomach with the sharp teeth of the warg few inches away from the back of his neck. He tried to wriggle to drop the beast from his back but to no avail. </p><p>He was sure that the beast would feast on him in no time but lady luck was on his side as he heard the sound of swishing on the air and something metal hitting flesh and he felt the dead weight of the slumped warg on his back. He started to push the heavy beast from his back when he found someone beside him pushing the beast roughly from his back. A pale hand was offered to help him to his feet, he took the hand without thinking and when he got to his feet, his eyes met with eyes of the grey-eyed young woman.</p><p>He could see concern on her eyes and she asked softly,</p><p>
  <strong>"Are you alright?"</strong>
</p><p><strong>"I am fine. Do not distract me and yourself from the fight by your babbling."</strong> the prince did not know why he answered her rudely, may be out of habit.</p><p>Both of them turned their attention to the fight four orcs were approaching them with raising swords and spears, the elf and the human girl sprang to action at the same time everyone handled two of the foul enemies. The prince used one blade to block the attack coming at him from his left and with his right blade he struck the other orc catching him on the chest. Before the orc could hit the ground the same blade was separating the heinous head of the second orc.</p><p>Beside him, the young human girl gutted one orc with her long sword and pulled the sword roughly to parry the blow aiming for her head after three or four strikes, she pierced the heart of her opponent efficiently killing him.</p><p>The lady and the prince worked together to fell as many enemies as possible, unknown to them that each one of them were protecting the back of the other. Together, they felled around twenty of the dark creatures until a black arrow coming from their right found its target and hit the prince on his left shoulder barely missing the heart with few inches. The jolt of pain made the prince drop the blade he was holding on his left hand. Seconds later another arrow found its target piercing the tender flesh of the prince's right thigh. The stabs of pain made the prince breathless, with a grunt of pain the prince crumbled to the ground.</p><p>Aragona heard the awful sound of a projectile piercing flesh and she heard the grunt of pain coming from behind. She risked to have a look and to her dismay she found the prince on the ground withering from the intense pain caused by his deep injuries. The blood-thirsty creatures encouraged at seeing the elf defeated and started to rush towards the only standing warrior of the two. </p><p>Aragona felt responsible for the safety of the felling prince so she readied herself to defend him valiantly. She bent over and hold the fallen blade of the injured prince on her left hand while she kept tight grip on her sword by the right hand, and the deadly dance started. She kept cutting, gutting, parrying and evading strikes for ten minutes, the wounded prince watched her worriedly with glazing full of pain eyes. He wished he could stand and help her fighting for their lives but he was in too much pain that he could not risk to even move.</p><p>Many foul creatures met their doom by the deadly blades of the young fighter but it seemed that she ran out of luck. A huge Yurk-hai attacked the smaller form of the young human with great force that knocked the sword out of her hand, the lady of the Dunedains had no time to retrieve her faithful sword before another hard strike came upon her, she used the elven blade to stop the blow from chopping her head. The young human girl was so occupied with her fight against her large opponent that failed to sense the other orc creeping towards her from behind.</p><p>The prince watched with horror, the dirty black blade piercing the soft flesh of the young ranger's back above the kidney. The surprise feeling of pain halted the motion of the blade on the girl's right hand and the Yurk-hai saw that this his chance to get rid of the young nuisance. He raised his big blade above his head and he was ready to deliver the final blow when a finely-made elven arrow pierced his head taking his life instantly.</p><p>The blonde prince breathed a sigh of relief between his gasps of pain when the large Yurk-hai failed to finish off the young brown-haired girl. Then he was aware of more arrows flied from south towards their enemies felling to them with high speed.</p><p>A dark clad form appeared from the shadows of the large trees and rushed quickly to catch the injured young human before she collapsed and hit the hard ground. The last thing the prince heard before darkness claimed his consciousness,</p><p>
  <strong>"Stay with me, Estel. Stay with me, love."</strong>
</p><p>To be continued....</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I want to apologise for not updating for a month and half. It was not my intention but I was distracted by writing another fiction.</p><p>Thank you for reading my story and please support my story by your kind reviews to help me continue.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Jealousy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Great thanks for those who spared few minutes to drop a comment on this story. You can not imagine how this simple act raises my spirit and gives me the desire to write more and continue.<br/>So please drop a comment if you read to help me continue.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter six</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Jealousy</strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p><span class="u"></span>The Noldor-elves who were assigned to scout the area caught some sounds not faraway from they were standing. They strained their ears to catch what those sounds were coming from and what caused them. They could distinguish the sound of clashing blades, grunting of pains, some shouts and screams. Fear raised on their heart not for themselves but for those who were screaming and grunting in pain. </p><p>The older twin of Elrond's sons ordered two of the warriors accompanied him to return to their lord and inform him of the battle occuring close to them. The two elves wasted no time and sped back from where they came. Elladan and his other companies decided to go and try to give a helping hand for those poor elves.</p><p>They rode hard until they almost reached a wide clearing where the fight was raging. The elves of Imladris abandoned their steeds in the shade of the trees and readied their bows and notched their arrows. One signal from their leader and their arrows soared high towards the cursed minions of Sauron.</p><p>The young Peredhel noticed from afar a rather huge Yurk-hai was raising his dark ugly scimitar ready to deliver the final blow to a smaller figure and from to the stance of this person, it seemed that person was badly injured. The Yurk-hai shifted his raised arm slightly and the face of the injured victim was revealed to him and he gasped on shock.</p><p>The figure who was cladding in a ranger cloak was no one other his younger sister, Estel. Before he knew what he was doing he fired his arrow, although everything happened in mere moments, the speeding arrow seemed too slow for his liking. One second slow, means death to his beloved sister.</p><p>Luckily, his flying arrow hit it's mark in perfect timing, killing the huge foul creature instantly. He appeared quickly from behind the trees in time to catch the fallen lady between his strong arms. He lowered her carefully to the ground and he gasped in fear when his hand touched her hot blood which ran freely from a deep wound on her back. He called for her frantically without thinking of his words,</p><p>"<strong>Stay with me, Estel. Stay with me,love."</strong> He shook her slightly to prompt her to open her eyes but no response he received.</p><p>The young half-elven lord searched with his eyes for someone free to help him in retrieving his medical supplies from the saddle of his steed. The number of the dark beasts decreased rapidly but the battle had not ended yet. Every fighter was busy engaging in finishing the sorry souls of those hideous creatures.</p><p>He also had to release his precious charge to parry the sword of an orc who made use of his distraction and crept upon him. He did a quick job in finishing him but more orcs came his way trying to fell him as they felled other elves. He moved his elven sword skillfully delivering more and more of those beasts to their death but he was impatient, everything in him was screaming to him to go and treat his dying sister. </p><p>Few minutes passed but Elladan felt them passed like hours. Finally, no more dark creatures left standing in the clearing. He barked some orders to his subordinates. He asked someone to make fire, and another one to go fetch his supplies. Some of the elves were ordered to make sure that the fallen enemies were all dead, he did not want to leave anyone of them to draw a breath. </p><p>Others were ordered to help the wounded and the last group was given the order to scout the area around the clearing to make sure that nothing left lurking in the dark waiting to catch them unaware. </p><p>A dark-haired Noldor-elf carried the heavy pack of his young lord and handed it to him. The young elf noticed the prone form of a ranger bleeding heavily and his eyes caught the face and he recognized their lord's youngest child. He knelt beside the older twin and offered his help, For that Elladan was grateful.</p><p>While the young healer was cutting the upper tunic of his young sister, he heard the loud sound of speeding hooves coming at break neck speed towards the clearing where they were. Seconds later, the most skilled healer in all the Middle-earth dismounted hurriedly and ran towards his oldest son. More elves poured through the clearing, all of them were ready to kill any sorry soul confronted them.</p><p>Elrond knelt beside his son to make sure that he was okay then his wise grey eyes caught the prone form in front of his son. An anguished yell escaped his lips un-intentionally when he saw his youngest child laying in a pool of her own blood.</p><p>He turned his ancient eyes towards his oldest and asked a bit harshly,</p><p>
  <strong>"What happened Elladan? Tell me what happened to your sister?"</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"I do not know,Ada. I came on time to rescue her from a fatal blow Yurk-hai was about to deliver and I killed it. Then I caught her before she hit the ground and I found her bleeding from a deep wound in her back."</strong>
</p><p>The half-elven lord turned his young girl into her stomach carefully so not to aggravate her wound even more. He took the dagger from his son's hand and finished cutting her tunic and the ugly wound above her kidney appeared. He quickly asked for clean clothes and hot water to clean the wound. </p><p>During his work and elf rushed to the great healer and a look of panic on his face,</p><p>
  <strong>"My lord Elrond, look Prince Legolas ls badly injured as he was hit by two arrows."</strong>
</p><p><strong>"I can not leave Estel before closing her wound or she would bleed to death."</strong> the elf Lord turned to his older son and asked him to take care of the prince while he was seeing to his daughter.</p><p>Reluctantly, the dark-haired young elf stood and grabbed some medical supplies he was sure that he would need in tending the prince's wounds. He checked the prince and found two arrows, the first one sticking out of his left shoulder and the second one planted deeply on the right thigh. He had to remove the arrows to clean the wounds. He grabbed the first one and with a mighty tug, the metal head of the arrow left the flesh and the blood rushed out of the wound rapidly. </p><p>The young Peredhel pressed on the open wound with a clean cloth hard until the flow of blood slowed and finally stopped. Unfortunately, the young healer discovered a brownish-green substance on the open wound. He cursed under his breath, he hated the fact that poison is running now freely inside the blond elf. He ordered an elf to bring hot water in a cup. </p><p>While he was waiting for the hot water, he removed the other arrow and cleaned the wound. The other elf rushed to the young healer with a cup of steaming water. Wasting no time, the young Peredhel added athelas and some other herbs that have the ability to fight poison and infection and he started the hard mission of letting the herbal tea down the prince's throat. It was a really tough mission but he managed with the help of the other Noldor-elf.</p><p>After doing his best with prince, the older son of the elven-lord went to check on his beloved little sister. He found her resting soundly, he looked at his father and asked worriedly,</p><p>"<strong>Is she going to be okay,Ada?"</strong></p><p>
  <strong>"Do not worry my son, she will be okay. She was lucky the sword missed her kidney with few inches. But she lost too much blood and she will need lot of liquids to compensate the blood she lost."</strong>
</p><p>The older healer asked his son to take care of his sister and the prince while he was tending to other injured elves and humans. His son obliged obediently, he sat between the two resting patients. When his father turned and got busy with other patients, he held the delicate soft hand of his beloved sister and kissed it softly and he whispered endearing words encouraging her to pull through quickly.</p><p>Inside the palace,</p><p>The celebrations of the festival were in full swing. The elves ate the many delicious dishes, and drank the finest wine in whole Arda. Then they started to sing merrily and danced happily enjoying the temporary peace. Unknown of the predicament, their volunteering elves and humans ran through.</p><p>The handsome king of Mirkwood was really thankful for the short respite, he and his  elves were enjoying but when his thoughts went to his absent son, his high spirit dimmed quickly. He wished that his young son could enjoy himself like the other young elves. He resented the fact that his son had to lead the fighting troops most of the time. His son deserves to live his life in peace and enjoy himself, he deserves to pursue some elf-maiden and experience the pleasure of love.</p><p>At mid-night, the sound of music, singing and laughter stoped as most of the wood-elves went to their own places to get their much needed rest. Only the staff of servants in the palace had to stay up until they finished cleaning and making everything return to its normal state. The king bid his councilors and advisors good night and went to lay down on his soft bed.</p><p>Before he could go to his elven dreams, he heard ruckus coming from the courtyard. The sound of hooves rushing inside the gates of the palace. Calls of help and orders for readying the healing wings to receive the injured. The big commotion sent every elf in the palace and the surrounding area alert and sober.</p><p>Thranduil throw any robe over his night-clothes and almost ran out outside to see what was happening. Servants were rushing to obey orders, healers were running with litters to carry the wounded into the healing area. The blonde king stood flabbergasted for few seconds as if trying to understand what his eyes were beholding. Then his eyes landed on the regal form who was giving the orders to elves around him. </p><p>The king made his way towards the lord of Imladris and addressed him respectfully,</p><p>
  <strong>"Mae g'ovannen, Lord Elrond. What happened?" </strong>
</p><p><strong>"Mae g'ovannen, King Thranduil. Your elves and the rangers met a great group of orcs and Yurk-ha. Many were injured and unfortunately, prince Legolas is one of the injured."</strong> panic rose inside the blonde king, his only son got injured again in less than a month.</p><p>
  <strong>"Where is my son? Is he ok?"</strong>
</p><p><strong>"Do not worry. We treated most of his wounds and he is now in the healing wings resting." </strong>the Peredhel lord tried to soothe the worried father, he knew the awful sensation because his own daughter lay pale and motionless after losing so much blood.</p><p>
  <strong>"Thanks Elrond for taking care of my son and for bringing him home in one piece. I do not know what I would do if something bad happened to him."</strong>
</p><p><strong>"No need for thanking me, I am a father like you and I know what you feel. Our children are all what we have, our lives depend on them. Come with me my friend to see our children." </strong>the king noticed that the lord said "our" children and wondered if one of Elrond's son got injured too.</p><p>Both of the mighty elves entered the healing ward and Elrond led the king towards a secluded room with two beds. There lay his son and on the other bed was occupied by the young lady of Dunedains. In no time, he was beside his unconscious son, he noticed his pale complexion, the tightly closed eyes and the bandages around his left shoulder and right thigh. He stroked the soft blonde strands of his only son, wishing silently that his deep blue eyes would open to calm his frightened heart.</p><p>The king raised his head to look at the other ancient elf and he was surprised to see the old mighty elf bending over the motionless girl also stroking her brown hair affectionately. The look on the old healers eyes was the same worried look, he had upon looking on his son. The king could not contain his curiosity and blurted out the question,</p><p><strong>"Do you know the young lady personally?" </strong>the old wise grey eyes met the deep blue ones of the king and he smiled slightly,</p><p>
  <strong>"Oh Thranduil! You would be surprised."</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"How!" </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"This beautiful young lady is my adaptive daughter. She came to me when she was only a toddler. I raised her as my own and I love her as much as I love my blood children. I called her Estel because she returned warmth and love to my old withering heart."</strong>
</p><p>The king was really surprised and wondered why the young lady did not mention her status as the elf-lord's daughter. But what he did not understand why the elf-lord left his youngest child running here and there endangering herself by engaging in dangerous battles and living the hard life of the rangers. </p><p>Before he could fire more questions, he noticed small movement coming from his son's bed and he noticed the flattering of his son's eyes. He called the half-elf to have a look at his son. The old healer was beside him in an instant, he checked the vital signs of his son and called authoritaively for his son to open his eyes and he was relieved when he saw the blue eyes of his fully open and focused on them.</p><p>"<strong>Ada, where I am?" </strong>the soft words of the wounded elf were like music to the ears of the worried father.</p><p>
  <strong>" You are in the halls of healing, you were badly injured my son."</strong>
</p><p><strong>"What about the others? What about Aragona? Is she alive?" </strong>the young prince asked, his voice was just a whisper but the keen hearing of his Ada caught the whispered words.</p><p>
  <strong>"Do not worry, ion-nin. Lord Elrond and his companions reached you on time and helped the others, and Lady Aragona will be fine. She is resting on the bed beside yours."</strong>
</p><p>The famous healer of Rivendell interrupted the small talk between the father and the son, he had a duty to do and that was to know how the prince was faring.</p><p>"<strong>Prince Legolas, please, tell me of any discomfort you suffer from right now?" </strong>the young elf focused on himself and what he was feeling and answered truthfully,</p><p>"<strong>My shoulder wound felt so hot and it pained me greatly. My thigh also seemed on fire. My head is pounding fiercely and I have a queasy stomach." </strong></p><p><strong>" May I have a look at your wounds? I need to change the bandages anyway." </strong>after receiving a small nod from the prince, the skilled healer cut the old bandages and cleaned the wounds again with herbal warm water, he applied some sticky green substance like a paste on the wounds and dressed them carefully one more time. He readied some cup full of herbal tea mixed with painkiller and herbs to fight infection. The prince swallowed it slowly and grimaced when the foul tasting liquid ran down his throat. He emptied the cup and handed it to the old healer, already feeling the healing effects of the tea.</p><p>A small groan of pain came from the only other bed on the small healing room and the ancient Lord jumped on his feet and rushed beside the young girl who she was fighting to regain consciousness. The prince observed the mighty lord struggling to help the wounded human to open her eyes and respond to him. He saw the look of pure relief and happiness when the tired grey-eyed fluttered open and looked at the elf bending over her. He noticed that the elf was patting the brown strands of the young human affectionately, and saw that the girl rewarded the elf with small smile, she whispered something so quiet he could not catch and the elf leaned over her and pressed his lips on her forehead.</p><p>After that the elf Lord started to tend to the wounds of the young girl who was trying hard to stiffle the moans of pain when the healer started to clean the deep wound. He also offered a cup of tea containing the needed medicine for her to fight the slight fever she had and to subdue the raising pain.</p><p>Half an hour later, two identical dark-haired elves entered the small healing room, they beamed happily when their eyes landed on the now conscious human girl. They rushed to her side and sat beside her on the bed, one to her right and one to her left. Both of them hugged her carefully without adding pressure on her wounded back. One of them kissed her head, the other kissed her cheek. </p><p>The king and the prince who were watching the passionate moments between the young girl and the three dark-haired elves, had different reactions to that display of affection. The king had a small smile on his face, he knew fully well the familial connection between the four of them. On the other hand, the young prince was seething from anger and another ugly feeling was growing inside his chest. He wanted to throttle the three elves to death especially when they did not stop touching the pretty young girl. His eyes were burning with un contained fire, the only thing prevented him from action was the presence of his father and king.</p><p>To the young prince dismay, one of the twins noticed the look the prince was giving them and he extended one slender arm and put it protectively around the young beauty and pressed her to his chest and the girl rested her head casually on the broad chest and sighed in content. At this moment, the young prince recognized the ugly burning feeling on his chest, it was jealousy. He was very jealous of those Noldor-elves.</p><p>To be continued.....</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The next chapter, Legolas will act upon his feeling of jealousy. What would be the result? Is he going to come closer to the young lady or will push her further away.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Dancing under moonlight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I am not sure if I have to tell you how disappointed I am that this story did not find enough encouragement. If this will last, I am going to abandon it so I am really sorry for the few who loved it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter Seven</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <span class="u">Dancing under moonlight</span>
  </b>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">  </span>
</p><p><span class="u"></span>After taking care of the wounds of the prince and the young human ranger. Lord Elrond declared that both of them will be confined inside the healing ward for at least three days. In normal cases, the prince's wounds should not take that long to heal but the poison ran in his veins lessened his natural healing abilities so he will have to endure the confinement unwillingly.</p><p>His only solace that he would not spend those days alone, Aragona will also be confined with him. Three weeks ago, he would have throw a tantrum if he should share a room with the young human but he is now excited to have her close. He knew that there was something wrong with him, he should not be attracted to a mortal but this certain mortal crept under his defences and stirred unknown dorm desires inside him.</p><p>When his father, the healer lord and the twin half-elven brothers left the healing chamber to let them have some rest. Aragona fell quickly asleep, her mortal exhausted body could not resist the urge to rest. This left some time for the prince to watch her closely and openly away from the prying eyes of anyone.</p><p>He noticed her shallow labored breath coming between her slightly parted lips. Wispy sun light coming from the small window near her bed, reflecting on her hair making it shine in the dim light of the room. Her delicate features relaxed when she was asleep, showing how young she really is. Her beautifully shaped eyelids closed hiding her sparkling breathtaking grey orbs. Her long pale neck leading to her medium sized chest, her narrow waist and the slightly wide hips ending with long strong legs.</p><p>Everything about her seemed greatly appealing for the young prince and the longer his scrutiny took, the longer his predicament lasted. He felt his lower body stirring to live reacting to his closeness to the object of his desire but he was fully aware that he couldn't act upon his own desires right now. He should rein his urges, especially, their injured state would not let them free to do as they wish.</p><p>Dejectedly, he turned his face away from the delicate young beauty so he could find some rest.</p><p>Few hours later, the silence of the room was disturbed when the older son of Lord Elrond crept quietly inside the healing room and approached the sleeping girl. He shot the prince a glance and he sighed in relief when he found him sound asleep or that was what he thought at this moment. He sat quietly on the girl's bed and spent few minutes just observing the rise and fall of her chest.</p><p>The young Peredhel was extremely worried about his young lovely sister. His heart would break into pieces if something bad befallen her. His feeling for the brown-haired young sibling get really deep, everytime his eyes landed on her youthful innocent face. He wished that he would be the injured to spare her the pain. He sighed ruefully, he ran his long slender fingers through her slightly tangled long strands and caressed her soft flawless face. He leaned over her and planted a feathery small kiss on her parted lips, feeling her warm breath on his cheeks. She stirred slightly and stilled again, Elladan smiled to himself. He knew that she was really tired not to feel his small caresses, normally she would feel his presence the second he put his feet inside her room.</p><p>He planted another soft kiss on her smooth cheeks and rose to his feet then went to rest in his private room. </p><p>Once he was out of the room, the young blonde elf moved and with slight difficulty he sat in his bed. He was seething from anger and jealousy. He cursed silently the stupid half-elf who gave himself the right to touch freely his young girl. Yes, his. He will make sure that this girl would be his and he did not like sharing. Sleep left him as he started to think of a way to approach the young human.</p><p>The next day, King Thranduil and the Lord of Imladris visited the two patients. This time Legolas and Ara were fully awake. The famous healer checked his patients and he was satisfied with their healing progress. After the check up, Thranduil asked Elrond to have a seat so the four of them could discuss something.</p><p>The elf king started by informing all the attendants with the loses of souls either from elves or humans caused by their final battle.</p><p>"I am so sorry Lady Aragona to inform you that six of your men lost their lives in the skirmish." the elves noticed the fleeting sorrowful look appeared on the young features of the said lady but she regained her strict control over her emotions and revealed nothing of the turmoil inside her heart.</p><p>"Did they get buried?" the dark-haired Lord answered her truthfully,</p><p>"They were readied to be buried but we waited for your order." </p><p>"Thank you for your consideration, my Lords." </p><p>The young blonde prince interjected and asked worriedly,</p><p>"Adar, what about our warriors? How many had we lost this time?"</p><p>"Unfortunately, We lost eight of our finest archers." the young prince's sorrow and guilt were evident on his young handsome face.</p><p>"I am sorry, my Lord. I was not a good leader and our warriors paid the price of my foolishness." the father felt sorry for his only son, he knew that his son would blame himself but he was not sure how to soothe him. </p><p>The older elves were surprised when the young human addressed the younger elf with so much faith and authority,</p><p>"You had done nothing wrong, they were warriors and they knew the dangers coming with the warrior's position. Besides, they got the highest honor to die defending their lands so stop sinking in the path of self-blame and regret. We only have to honor them and live to tell others about their glory." both of the ancient elven lords shared a look of approval about what the young human said and to their relief the prince also nodded his head slightly in consent of what she bravely said.</p><p>The handsome blonde monarch addressed the two injured young warriors and said briefly,</p><p>"The burial rituals for the elves and the humans will be held tomorrow morning, both of you are expected to be there to pay your respects." the dark-haired healer hastily added,</p><p>"We will you to have your much needed rest to gain enough strength to stand on your own feet tomorrow." Both the mighty elder elves left the healing ward to attend to other important matters.</p><p>The prince gazed at the window and saw the sun was still high in the sky and he was not tired, he just wished to go to the archery field to practice or to the stables to groom and feed his faithful steed. He dared a fleeting look to the other bed to see what it's occupant was doing. He found the brown-haired human trying to stand up from her own bed so he curiously blurted out his inquiry,</p><p>"What are you trying to do?" the wonderful grey eyes fixed on the blue ones of the prince and a mischievous smile appeared on the young face of the girl, she gestured with her long delicate finger at the closed door and said simply "out". The prince was astonished about the rashness of the young girl and he was about to berate her when she explained herself patiently,</p><p>"Look! I am starving and the tasteless soup the healers brought for us had done nothing to stop my grumbling stomach. I am going to the kitchen to fetch something more edible then I am going to enjoy my meal under the shade of any tree in the garden. Do you want to come along?"</p><p>The prince did not need more urging from the young lady, he also felt hungry and restless, he wanted to enjoy the sunny and airy day. He started to rise but the muscles around the wound on his thigh protested fiercely from the sudden move and his leg almost buckled under him. Fortunately, the young girl  was fast enough to help him not to sprawl on the hard ground.</p><p>"You can lean on me this you won't put pressure on your wounded leg." the young ranger offered generously.</p><p>"You are injured yourself, you can not strain on your wounded back." protested the prince firmly.</p><p>"Do not worry, it would not be a burden. Let me help you so we could escape this small cage." the young girl started pulling the prince towards the door and the blonde elf had to come along. Truthfully, the elf was more than happy to lean on the shorter girl because his body would be pressed into her curvy body. He felt great need to be close to this exquisite human. Together, they raided the kitchen, grabbed some food and went to enjoy the food outside in the open gardens.</p><p>Everything was perfect in the eyes of the prince, he was staring at the lovely human when she was chewing hungrily on her food. </p><p>Suddenly, he felt the need to touch her, he got his opportunity when a small piece of food stuck on the girl's cheek. He extended his hand and lightly wiped the girl's soft cheek, she stared at him with surprised and confused look as if asking by her eyes about his strange action.</p><p>"Something was stuck there, I simply wiped it away." To the prince's pleasure, he noticed the cheeks of the girl turned red. A fierce blush formed on her flawless young face. She murmured soft 'thank you' and resumed devouring her meal.</p><p>After eating the human and the elf talked for sometime and the blond immortal could not deny that he was curious about many things concerning the young lady. So he gathered his courage and asked some of things he badly wanted to know,</p><p>"Tell me why are those veteran rangers letting a young woman to lead them?"</p><p>"It is simple, I am the only child of their chieftain and after my parents deceased, it is natural to lead the Dunedains in stead of him."</p><p>"How could you manage to speak Sindarin fluently?"</p><p>"I spend part of my childhood in Imladris and I picked the language from there."</p><p>"How old are you?"</p><p>"Isn't it rude to ask a lady about her age?"</p><p>"Come on, I am only curious."</p><p>"Fine. I am eighteen."</p><p>"You are so young."</p><p>"What about you, how old are you?"</p><p>"I am two thousand years. It is equivalent to twenty in human years."</p><p>"So you are also young in the eyes of the eldar."</p><p>"Yes, I am." A big yawn escaped the rubby lips of the young ranger while they were speaking. Despite herself her eyelids started to drop shut, she rested her head on the bark of the huge tree they were sitting under. He was about to put his arm around her to let her rest her head in his lap when the two damned half-elven emerged from around the corner and they spotted him and the young girl instantly.</p><p>They ran towards them and leaned over the sleeping human, they smiled tenderly when they saw her sleeping soundly. The older one caressed her cheek tenderly and the younger one tucked some stray strands of her hair behind her ear. </p><p>"Elladan, we should take her inside before she caught cold." the older brother nodded and put one arm under her knees and the other arm up holding her torso and easily raised to his feet and started to head back inside. No one of them paid attention to the young prince who sat beside the young human all along. They ignored him totally. Their cold treatment showed him that no lost love shared between them. He rose slowly to his feet and started his tough trip back to the healing ward, wishing all the way that the twins would be there when he arrived.</p><p>Fortunately, he did not find them but he found on of the rangers watching the sleeping form with soft tender smile on his face. When the human noticed the blond elf, he bowed respectfully to him.</p><p>"I am sorry my Lord for entering without permission. I only wanted to make sure that she is well. It is my duty as her cousin and senior to take care of her." the prince dismissed the apology kindly,</p><p>"No need for apology, you are welcome to come and see her anytime you wish." at least the human is polite and respectful not like the rude arrogant twins of the elven lord, thought the young elf inwardly. </p><p>"I shall take my leave to give you both time to rest." with another bow to the prince, the male ranger went his way. With nothing else left to be done, the young elf also fell asleep.</p><p>The next day, many elves and humans gathered to pay their respects to the deceased. The prince and the young lady were among them. Aragona kissed the forehead of each one of her fallen warriors as it was her people's tradition in biding farewell for the passing souls. </p><p>After the ceremony, a small council was held. King Thranduil invited Lord Elrond and his two sons, lord Glorfindel, lady Aragona, her cousin Halbarad. Besides, the prince and two of the king's trusted advisors. The blonde monarch explained in details the needs and demands of his beloved kingdom. He also informed the others about the large nests of poisonous spiders. The lack of antidote, the shortcomings in herbs and other healing supplies.</p><p>Everyone of the attendants started to pick a task suits his skills. The twins and Halbarad chose to chase the orcs and wargs. The prince and Glorfidel will handle the poisonous spiders. Lord Elrond chose Aragona to help him in restocking healing supplies, making antidotes and taking care of the injured. If their fighting skills were needed they will join the warriors. The ruler of Greenwood thanked all of them whole-heartedly and everyone went to prepare themselves to do their allocated tasks.</p><p>Days passed and turned into weeks and everything was running as it was planned. Many orcs, wargs and goblins met their doom by the blades of the twins and the Dunedains. Many parts of the dark wood cleared from their nasty existence. </p><p>Everyday, more of spiders nests burned or destroyed, making the movement through the old woods safer than before. Many vials of antidotes to different kind of poisons laid ready to be used. The healing herbs and other supplies were stuffed into the high wooden shelves in the healing chambers. The king of Mirkwood was greatly satisfied with the great progress, many years had passed since he felt this relieved. </p><p>The days of the visiting humans and Noldor-elves came to close. They are going to leave in few days because their task almost finished and they had other things to do on their respected lands.</p><p>The king declared that a huge feast will be held on the honor of their guests as farewell. </p><p>Everybody was happy that everything will be back to normal. Only the young prince was sulking inwardly, he did not get a chance to act on his building feelings towards the young human girl. He also was sure that Aragona has some feelings to him. She always blushes when his eyes met hers, he did not sense any repulse or rejection to the small fleeting touches to her cheeks, arms or shoulders when they were sparring, hunting or riding. </p><p>The evening before the feast of farewell, many young elves males and females gathered beside a small pond. They lit a big fire, they shared  tasty roasted venison, potatoes and other vegetables. After eating, they started to play music, sing and some of them rose to dance under the light of the full moon and shining stars.</p><p>Among the youthful beings sat the human girl, some of her young warriors and the twin predehel brothers. The young prince also was there to enjoy the merry atmosphere. Some of the young elleths asked the young human lady to join them in dancing. The twins and the young rangers cheered for her and told the others about her exquisite ability in dancing, especially the moves she learnt from the eastern people that she met few years ago.</p><p>The elves were curious about this new way of dancing and urged her heatedly to demonstrate her skill. She was reluctant to dance but for their cheers and their pleading, she consented. She stood in the middle and removed her outer cloak and gave up her leather boots and stood bare-feet on the soft grass. Only her flowing silky white dress hugging her perfect form.</p><p>She asked one of the rangers to bang rhythmetically on a small wooden box. Aragona started her captivating eye-catching dance, her small hips were moving with the tune, her chest and arms also moving expertly in tune with her hips. The young elves either from Mirkwood or Imladris were starting wide-eyed on the lovely free-spirit young lady, she was drawing the image of a young goddess of agility and beauty. She danced for sometime and when she stopped, the applause of the beholders was deafening. She bowed slightly to them and returned to sit beside her cousin and the twins.</p><p>According to the prince, he had never seen anything more entrancing, magical and breath-taking like the way the young girl was moving her beautiful body in all his long life. Her dance was affecting him heavily, his body stirred to life demanding him for release, reminding him of his deep attraction and desire for the young beauty. He knew he had no time to tarry, he had to act or he will explode.</p><p>All the younglings dispersed at mid-night to have some rest. After all, the next day, they all have many tasks to do to ensure that the feast will be perfect. </p><p>The young prince went to his private bedchambers but he did not find sleep or peace, the image of the dancing girl with the sparkling grey-eyes kept him restless so after a whole hour of tossing and turning, he put a simple robe over his night-clothes and went to find his release.</p><p>A small knock on the door, made the young lady to be alert. She strode towards the door and opened the door to see the silly senseless visitor after mid-night. She was surprised to find the handsome blonde prince on his night-clothes with his silky light strands free of braids and bare feet standing on her door step with unreadable expression on his face. She asked curiously,</p><p>"Do you need something, your highness." the young elf pushed her roughly inside and closed the door behind him with a soft thud and said sensually, </p><p>"<strong>I need you.</strong>"</p><p>To be continued....</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed reading. Please, review.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Foolishness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Big thanks for Anonymous Aragorn Lover for supporting my story and console me for the lack of reviews and feedback from the readers.<br/>I have to warn you Legolas will be out of character this chapter. Do not be surprised.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p><span class="u"> <strong>Chapter </strong> </span> <b> <span class="u">Eight</span> </b></p><p>
  <b> <span class="u">Foolishness</span> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>The young brown-haired girl was utterly surprised from the strange behavior of the Sindar elf, and she felt doubt from his intentions of raiding her private room in this late hour. she found herself asking in alarm,</p><p>"what do you mean ' you need me', my lord?" the young blond elf stared intently on her bright grey eyes and answered truthfully,</p><p>"Since my eyes landed on you first time when i was laying bleeding in the forest, i was struck by how beautiful your eyes were but of course I covered it by throwing insults at you. Through the past weeks, I noticed more great traits of yours. You are brave, strong, intelligent, loyal and pretty. Everything about you is so appealing and attractive so I am not ashamed to admit that I am utterly lost in your charms. Please, tell me that you also desire me as much i desire you."</p><p>The young human was not sure that what was happening is reality or it was just a fragment of her wild imagination. Aragona could not deny that she found the blond prince absolutely attractive and charming, he is everything any female could wish for in a partner. He is noble, fearless, brave, graceful, good leader and so handsome. The young human felt so small and trivial comparing to his greatness. So she had to make sure that the young immortal shall not regret his decision to be with her.</p><p>"Are you sure you want to be intimate with me, I am only inexperienced young mortal. Are you not going to regret it?" she asked in small uncertain tune.</p><p>"I am dying to be with you. Do not torture me more." </p><p>The prince lessened the distance between them then he hungrily captured her lips savoring her sweet taste. He grabbed the back of her head towards him to deepened the hot kiss. Their hot breathes mingled together, their body so close as if they were melting and becoming one.</p><p>In few moments, they found their way to the bed in the middle of the room, they collapsed on it and started exploring each other. The moans of pleasure escaping the cherry lips of the young beauty encouraged the young elf to go farther in their intimacy until their night garments laid on a heap on the floor. ( I will let the rest to your wild imagination).</p><p>After both of them find their climate and release, they collapsed on each other arms enjoying the aftermath of their union. The young ranger snuggled happily into the strong chest of her lover a silly grin drawn on full red lips. Until the dawn approached they were basked in the joy of their coupling.</p><p>The young blond elf noticed that the dawn approached quickly so he pushed the girl slightly away from his embrace and started to rise from the bed. The young girl growled in displeasure,</p><p>"What are you going?" she inquired with a small frown on her lovely visage. </p><p>"I am leaving before any prying eyes catch me here." the young prince replied casually still putting hurriedly on his clothes.</p><p>"What is wrong if anybody saw you here? they are going to know of our relationship sooner or later." the brown-haired girl answered simply. The prince turned to face the still sitting girl and a big scowl on his face,</p><p>"What relationship you are talking about what we shared here just release of our sexual tension nothing more." replied the prince coldly. </p><p>"I thought you want to be my partner and my lover."</p><p>"Do do not delude yourself. You are just a mortal who will grow, wither and die during few decades. I can not bind myself to you, I am immortal and royalty, you are just prowler who roams the wildness waiting for someone to hire you to fulfill his demands. You should be grateful, I spared a look towards you." with those final words between them, the prince left the young human to gather the pieces of her broken heart.</p><p>He hurried to his chambers and closed the door quickly to block her harsh sobs from reaching his ears.</p><p>The young girl kept weeping pitifully and hitting her own chest over her heart violently repeating only three words,</p><p>"I am fool, I am fool, I am fool......"</p><p>To be continued..... </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Words before farewell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Please, read and enjoy and I will not ask you to comment, I will left it for your sense.<br/>Big thanks for Anonymous Aragorn Lover again for supporting my story.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter Nine</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Words before farewell</strong> </span>
</p><p>The sun has risen on the woodland realm quickly basking the huge ancient trees with it's shining golden rays. The whole residents in the palace were active and busy preparing for the evening farewell feast. Humans and Noldor-elves started packing their travelling packs stuffing them with their needs on the road back home. </p><p>The twin Peredhel brothers noticed their sister's absence from the dining hall during breakfast time. It was unusual behavior for their young sibling, she was known of her tremendous love for good food. They decided to check on her after finishing their meal.</p><p>During the breakfast time, the golden-haired monarch stole some glances towards his only son who was sitting so stiff as if he was sitting on thorns. His son's facial expression was unreadable, he was picking on his food, and staring on the horizon not paying attention to the merry chatter around him. For any stranger's eyes, he seemed the proud elegant aloof golden prince of Mirkwood but to the eyes of his parent, he seemed dazed lost and a bit ashamed of something he did not know.</p><p>The mighty ruler made a note to corner his heir and investigate what was ailing him. The king also noticed the absence of the young lady of the Dunedains but he did not comment on it, he thought she was busy packing or just overslept.</p><p>After finishing the morning meal, everybody started to do the chores that should be done. The twin dark-haired brothers were about to check on their sister on her room when their father saddled them with the task of helping in taking care of the horses and mares that will carry them back home. They obeyed their father reluctantly so they asked their Ada to check on Estel instead of them and he promised to go and check on her.</p><p>The three Peredhels parted ways, the young ones went to the stables and the older one to his daughter's bedchamber. The ancient half-elf knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter but he got no response. He knocked again and only silence met him so he turned the knob of the door and find it un-locked. He got inside quietly and blinked few times to adjust his eyes to the darkness of the room. </p><p>The big windows were tightly closed and the thick curtains were drawn. The fire in the hearth died down for some time and no candles were lit. At first glance, his eyes could not detect any body there but few moments later, the old wise elf noticed a lump on the bed. He approached the bed soundlessly and uncovered the body laid there and found his youngest child sleeping. He smiled tenderly at his young daughter, she seemed angelic and so innocent when she was sleeping like that.</p><p>Unfortunately, he had to wake her, she had some chores that should be done before their departure. She was tasked to teach some young elves how to clean wounds, apply stitches, tie bandages the right way and how to use some certain herbs to delay the poison effects or infection until a real healer could be found. He also had many things to do and he did not have time to teach the young warriors himself.</p><p>He shook the brown-haired girl lightly but the shining grey eyes were not open. He tried again a bit harder, and he found the metal tip of a shining elven dagger directed to his heart. The old elf was stunned at the beginning, never his young child reacted violently to any one of her family trying to wake her. Before he uttered any word, the elven dagger was removed swiftly away from him and the soft voice of his daughter filled his ears,</p><p>"Oh! sorry Ada, I thought you someone else."</p><p>"No one on his right mind would mess with any veteran ranger especially you." the light tone and the slight joke dissipated the awkwardness between the father and daughter as a small smile formed on the pinky lips of the young human. Then the half-elven lord remembered the reason of his visit and explained calmly,</p><p>"I came to check on you, Estel. You did not show in the breakfast and did not start the training of healing with young elves so I became worried and decided to see by myself, is something wrong?" the old elf noticed the horrified look on the blue-grey eyes as if the young girl struck with thunder,</p><p>"Oh! I am so sorry, Ada. I did not mean to be disrespectful to you or the king. I should have been more alert, I will go to our host at once and apologize for my unthinkable behavior." the young dark-haired girl started to rise from bed to do as she said when a strong hand on her forearm stopped her abruptly from going away. She stared dumbfounded at the tall mighty elf, the other hand of the old Peredhel travelled to her face and traced it tenderly. The misty grey eyes of the father searched the bright young eyes of his child carefully and finally said,</p><p>"What ails you, tithen? You can tell me anything." the dark-haired elf was startled when suddenly his young daughter throw herself on his embrace and started sobbing quietly on his chest. The mind of the lord was racing with many questions, thoughts and worries but he forced himself to be calm and controlled for his young child. He only rubbed her back gently and caressed her soft brown stands tenderly. They stood like that for more few minutes until the sobs lessened then stopped. </p><p>The young girl raised her eyes ashamedly to meet her father's, she searched for condemn, scorn or disappointment but she found none. She found her father looking at her with the same love, tenderness and care, he smiled at her reassuringly and said,</p><p>"If you want to tell me something, I am all ears. Open your heart for me little one and tell me what is upsetting you?"</p><p>"I only feel like a fool, Ada. I fear you will be greatly disappointed in me if you knew what foolishness I had done. I am terrified that you will be ashamed of me or disowned me for my stupidity. " the young ranger replied with small voice full of shame. The wise ancient elf put a hand on the girl's chin and raised it slightly so the girl could face him squarely,</p><p>"Listen to me carefully, Estel, for I am not going to repeat my words twice. No force in whole Arda can make me love you less even for a fraction. You are my daughter, the child of my heart and my hope and no amount of foolishness you do can change the fact that I will always love you and I will never condemn you or give up on you." the dark-haired Lord replied firmly and seriously leaving no space for second thoughts.</p><p>The young girl felt relieved, happy and reassured that she has her father's love and approval as a constant. So she decided to open her heart and tell him of her plight.</p><p>"Ada, I felt deeply attracted to an elf and lately I discovered that he also felt attracted to me. He came to me and confessed his feelings and I mistook his attraction for love and....." the brown-haired youngling halted her words, she could not easily confess her own shame but the father urged her to continue,</p><p>"And what, Estel?"</p><p>The young ranger mastered all her courage and continued softly,</p><p>"and we made love, Ada. I thought that he would be my lover and then my mate one day but I discovered that he was only searching for an easy way of release, and getting rid of the accumulated physical attraction towards me. He simply left me behind and expressed on his own words that I should consider it a blessing for a prowler like me that I got the chance to be with him for a night." the ashamed girl could not meet the eyes of her father after confessing her irresponsible hasty unchaste action and waited fearfully for his reaction.</p><p>The old elf stood silently staring at his young child, he was not sure what to say for her at first. He knew only one thing that his lovely daughter had a broken-hearted and suffered the rejection of someone she thought loved her so he had to console her. Though, before consoling his child, he wanted to know if the culprit who seized his child's heart and smashed into pieces.</p><p>"Estel, could you tell me who is this elf?"</p><p>"I am sorry, Ada. I will feel more at ease if I let the identity of the elf to me. Please, do not force me to reveal who he is." the dark-haired elf hid his disappointment skillfully and did not press his child for the answer. He started to guess the identity of this elf, he was sure that the elf was not any common one. He knew his daughter won't fall for anybody, if she was attracted to someone, he must be the best one. Then, it came to him the identity of this elf, he must be the prince. He was sure the young blond elf must be the only one who could catch her eye and capture her heart in this short notice.</p><p>He is also the one who could turn the head of any female with just one smile of his. The nodor-elf had to admit that the young elf has enchanting natural beauty and possesses the captivating charisma. His poor child must have fallen hard and now she is paying the price. But prince or no, no one should mess with his own child.</p><p>"Look, Estel, I will be honest with you. I had not really expected something like that came from you. You were usually the wise and mature one among my children despite of your young age. Though, I can not blame you or punish you for falling in love or feeling attraction for someone. While being in love, all reason would fled away. I advise you to put this infatuation behind you and look forward to the future, one day you will meet your soulmate and you will be happy and content but you should be careful before choosing one more time so you won't have more regrets. If you got a chance to talk with this elf again, you will have to raise your head high. You are a leader, and princess, you are not just any lowly girl seeking attention. He also must know that being a ranger of the Dunedains is an honor not something to be ashamed of." the wise kind father patted the soft cheek of his girl gently and said lightly,</p><p>"Now, rise and shine my brilliant star and start your day, we have many things to do." He was rewarded with a big wide smile from his young daughter and she throw her arms on his neck and embraced him tightly, she murmured softly on his pointed ears,</p><p>"Thanks Ada for everything, I love you." then she released him and ran to the bathroom to refreshen herself and start her day. The old elf shook his head lightly and smiled easily at his child renewed enthusiasm, he wished that she will always be happy and carefree. He turned his back and left the room quietly, everything in him was urging him to go to the blond prince and give him a piece of his mind but he knew that his interference will complicate the matters so he forced himself to do his few tasks before the feast.</p><p>Estel bathed quickly and braided her hair in one single plait as she always does when she trains or fights, she was also garpped in her usual ranger attire. Then, she headed to the throne hall to apologize to the king for her tardiness and not attending the breakfast. She greeted the royal guards with nod of her head and they permitted for her to pass. The king was not seated on his throne but on a chair in front of a huge wooden decorated desk, he was discussing something with the golden-haired prince. </p><p>Two sets of deep blue eyes were raised to see the newcomer. The king heard a muffled gasp came from the young prince and he smiled knowingly. He felt that there was some attraction between his son and the young lady and he explained inwardly the trials of the prince to avert his gaze away from the young ranger due to the young elf's shyness. He noticed also that the young lady was trying hard not to turn her head towards his son. The brown-haired young girl bowed respectfully to the king and the prince and addressed calmly,</p><p>"I am sorry for interrupting your work, hir-nin but I came to apologize for my tardiness to show on the breakfast table and to get your permission my Lord to train some of the young elven warriors in the basics of the art of healing so they will be well-prepared for any surprise attack occurs and causing injures."</p><p>"You shouldn't have to apologize, there is no offense came from your side. Besides, it is a generous offer to sacrifice the last few hours you have here to train our warriors, I am really thankful for your great efforts my fair lady."  a wide smile tugged on the full cherry lips making the young face of the ranger illuminating. </p><p>"There is no need to thank me my Lord, it is always a pleasure on my part to do some good. I shall have my leave so I can start the training soon." she bowed hastily once more, turned and walked out leaving the father and son finishing what she interrupted.</p><p>The time flied quickly and elves and humans found themselves soon enjoying the grand feast the royal family prepared as a farewell for their honored guests. The music were refreshing, the dances were full of activity and swiftness, the food was very various, delicious and exquisite. </p><p>The twins were enjoying themselves by dancing and messing around with beautiful elleths. The older twin asked his young sister for a dance, she reluctantly approved to dance. She did not have the heart to spoil the good mood of her brother. Elladan circled her slim waist with his strong arms and tugged her towards him, he was so happy to hold her like that he wished that time would stop on this glorious moment. The young Peredhel was oblivious to the scorching glares certain blonde elf was directing towards him. </p><p>But his other twin noticed the heated looks and smirked ferally to himself and said to himself good for you Estel you wrapped many hearts around your pinky finger. The dance finished and another dance started and Elrohir stole his brother's place in dancing with his pretty young sister just to see the angry face of the young blonde elf.</p><p>The feast came to an end, and most of attendants enjoyed themselves and went to their own rooms high in spirit, except one young prince who kept sulking the major time of the feast. He felt the food tasted like dust on his mouth, the finely wine tasted like one of the herbal medicine of lord Elrond. He refused to join in any games, songs or dances. The only thing, he seemed to do glaring hatefully at anyone approached the young human ranger for what reason, he himself was not sure. He sighed resignedly and went to sleep with heavy heart. He had to wake up early to see their guests off and bid them safe journey.</p><p>The next day, the sun rises brightly. The sky was cloudless but the air has a tinge of coldness. The Noldor-elves and the Dunedan were all ready to go. The mighty lord of Imladris and the mighty king of Mirkwood payed their farewells and the blond king asked the skilled healer to come for a visit soon. Lord Glorfidel and the peredhel twins also exchanged their farewells with the king, the prince and the court advisors. </p><p>Aragona stood proudly and regally on the head of her rangers. She also took her time to say her farewells to the king and some of her new friends of the wood-elves. Before she went to mount her steed to start her journey back to North with her men, the young human girl approached the blond prince and addressed him evenly,</p><p>"May I have a word with you in private , your highness." the young elf stared at the girl dumbfounded, he was really taken-aback from her sudden request, a hard nudge on his ribs woke him from his stupor. He met the eyes of his father who grinned at him and said knowingly,</p><p>"Do not make the young lady wait, ion-nin."</p><p>The prince nodded obediently and walked behind the young ranger who led him away from any prying eyes or ears. She stopped under one of the huge trees and turned to face the young elf.</p><p>"I knew you wonder what I have to say to you. I just wanted to tell few things. First, I am not angry with you for what you had done because I am the one who read the situation wrong and foolishly acted on it. Second, before you left my room you said I should be thankful that you spared a look at a prowler like me who is hired to do what others want from them. I and my kin rangers travelled a long journey to offer you assistance and we asked nothing in return. I lost six of my best warriors defending your lands and we asked for no compensation because no one can hire us, we do what we do freely out of love and brotherhood between our races. </p><p>I will appreciate it if you changed your look at my men and learn to respect others and appreciate their sacrifices. Now, I have to say farewell for the others are waiting for me."</p><p>She turned to go but the prince stood in front of her blocking her way and said softly,</p><p>"Are you going to visit again?" She stared at him for few moments before shrugging and replied,</p><p>"Who knows?" she side-stepped and continued her way back to the others and the prince again followed her. The instant she emerged between the thick trees the old dark-haired Peredhel approached her slightly glaring at the blond elf behind her, he took her hand in his and urged her towards the waiting travellers, he said softly to her ears,</p><p>"Where have you been, penneth?"</p><p>"I was folding an old page of my life." the young ranger replied stoically. The father ruffled her soft brown strands affectionately and together mounted their steeds and turned their backs to the palace and it's residents. </p><p>The king and the prince watched their guests going little by little faraway and the blond king smiled broadly when he noticed the longing on the face of his only son and he teased lightly,</p><p>"I should have asked Lord Elrond for his daughter's hand if I had known how smitten you are." the young prince was confused, he is not smitten with Arwen, the Evenstar. He did not see her for ages so why his father thought he is smitten with her. He objected firmly,</p><p>"Ada, I do not have feelings for the Evenstar."</p><p>"Who said I am talking about Arwen?"</p><p>"Then who are you talking about? Lord Elrond only has one daughter."</p><p>"You are mistaken my son. He has another daughter. He adopted her since her early childhood after the death of her parents."</p><p>"Who she is?" asked the prince curiously.</p><p>"I thought you knew that lady Aragona is Lord Elrond's youngest child besides she is the daughter of Arathorn and that makes her the only heiress to the throne of Gondor." </p><p>The young prince felt his heart dropped to his legs, he was terribly horrified of what he had done. He offended the mighty elven lord's daughter and the future queen of the world of men. If someone knows of his foolishness, he will be doomed.</p><p>To be continued....</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any suggestions for the next chapter, please, inform me in a comment.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. What's wrong with me?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>To be honest, I started to doubt my ability in writing when I read in the past few days some great stories written few years ago. So comparing my stories to the greatness of their stories mine seemed trivial.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>What's wrong with me?</strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p><span class="u"></span>The Noldor-elves and the Dunedains travelled at slower pace towards their respectful homes. The elves will return to their beloved peaceful valley and the humans will head to North to join their families in their small city, Angel. </p><p>The elf Lord and his twin sons tried to convince their beloved Estel to return with them to her childhood's home but she politely declined their request. She explained that she could not abandon her duties towards her people especially in this time of the year as winter is approaching and they should secure their stock of food and medical herbs. They also had to build more houses for their steadily growing numbers. They also have to secure their borders and scout around the area to make sure everything is good and peaceful.</p><p>They accepted her apology with heavy saddened hearts but they had to respect her wishes, they were aware of the great responsibility laid upon her young shoulders.</p><p>The whole troops elven and humans travelled together for three weeks and now they are approaching the hidden valley of the elves so they soon will depart ways.</p><p>Elladan and Elrohir spent the past weeks enjoying their time with their younger sister. They spent most of the day's hunting, joking, talking and racing. Elrond was observing his youngest child closely, he was adamant to detect any change in the behavior of his beloved daughter after her late misfortune Mirkwood. He noticed through the past weeks how the young girl was putting a strong facade for her warriors and her brothers, no one sensed any change and she seemed normal for all around her but not to her Ada.</p><p>The elf-lord recognized the haunted look on the young face of his child and the slumped shoulders when she thought no one is watching. She also seemed paler than normal and her appetite decreased every going day. After three weeks of watching, the worried father approached his little child when he found her alone. </p><p>"Hello, Estel. May I join you under the shade of this lovely tree?" the young brown-haired girl raised her eyes and met the eyes of her Ada and smiled softly,</p><p>"Of course, Ada, you don't have to ask." the elf-lord smiled back gently and sat gracefully beside his daughter.</p><p>"How are you doing, Estel? I am sorry, I had not asked earlier." said the famous healer concernedly.</p><p>"I am fine Ada, you do not have to worry yourself." the young Dunadan replied carefully, she did not want to reveal any indications of the discomfort and the restlessness she was experiencing as of late. She knew her Ada will ask to examine her if she told him of how exhausted and light-headed she was feeling at this moment. But it seemed that the keen eyes and the sharp senses of her father detected her futile trials to conceal the truth from him. </p><p>"Are you sure you are fine Estel, you seemed tired and paler than normal. Besides, your appetite was not that good for the last week. Could you please tell me the truth?" the worried father addressed his child firmly, he would not let himself be deceived by the false facade.</p><p>"I am sorry, Ada. I did not intend to lie to you but I hate to worry you about me over a silly matter. I caught some cold, the nights became colder every going day and you knew how much I hate the cold air." the young girl apologized truthfully, she did not want to anger her father or show any disrespect to him.</p><p>"Tell me exactly the symptoms you are experiencing," the elf-lord turned to his full formal healer mode and he won't back down until he knew everything about his patient. The young girl knew her father well so she sighed in frustration but she started to list her symptoms,</p><p>"I feel light-headed, exhausted most of the time, some headaches and I have queasy stomach. I lost my appetite due to the unrest of my stomach. I feel sometimes cold and sometimes hot, I don't know exactly what's wrong with me?" a frown appeared on the ageless face of the wise elf and replied truthfully,</p><p>"Your symptoms are common and many diseases share those symptoms so right now I will give you something for your queasy stomach and a painkiller for the headache and if there are more symptoms, do not hesitate to tell me." the ancient elf climbed to his feet effortlessly and hid from the young girl's eyes between the swarm of the Noldor-elves. Ten minutes later, he returned with a cup of hot steaming herbal tea to fight most of his daughter's ailings. The young healer accepted the cup from her father and sipped slowly from it. Although the taste was bitter, she appreciated the warmth of the liquid. She finished the cup and handed it to the waiting elf. </p><p>"Thank you, Ada. The warmth of the tea helped to fight the chills of the air and l already started to feel better." the mighty lord smiled softly and ruffled the soft hair of his daughter and said,</p><p>"You should lay down and take a nap, it will help you to get better quickly." </p><p>"Ada, I am not child to have a nap besides this will hinder our progress in travelling. We should move in few minutes." the young girl protested vehemently, she did not want to be a bother for everybody but her father insisted and said,</p><p>"I told them already that we will continue our travel after two hours. So make good use of this time and sleep, you need it." the young Dunadan knew she lost the argument so she laid down on the soft grass, suddenly, a thick winter cloak covered her body, she raised her eyes to meet the smiling face of her father. </p><p>"I have no use of it right now, sleep and I will stay near to watch over you." he knelt beside her and place a warm kiss on her forehead as he used to do when she was a child, she really appreciated the guesture and closed her tired eyes and slept with a soft smile on her lips.</p><p>The two hours passed quickly and the elf-lord reluctantly had to wake the sleeping girl up, he shook her shoulder gently and the stunning grey eyes opened, the young girl asked drowsily,</p><p>"Are going to leave right now?"</p><p>"Yes, my dear. You have to rise and mount your steed. We still have along way before us." replied the dark-haired elf softly while patting the girl's hair affectionately. </p><p>The brown-haired ranger rose slowly and quickly assessed her condition at this moment and to her delight, she felt better. The nausea left her and the headache subdued greatly. She smiled happily and wrapped her slender arms around her father's neck and kissed his check and said gratefully,</p><p>"Thank you Ada, I am really feeling much better thanks to your magical tea and your generous offer of napping." the ancient laughed happily when he felt the high spirit of his daughter returned once more and he wrapped his arms around her waist for a tight hug and said lightly,</p><p>"Anything for my little princess." the young Dunadan giggled mirthfully when she heard the old nickname that her father used to call her with since she was a child. </p><p>"Come on Ada, we should not let the others wait especially the terrors that called my brothers, they have no patience at all." added the young human. The elf Lord put his arm around his young child steering her towards the general direction of the waiting steeds. When the twins noticed their father and sister marched quickly to greet them,</p><p>"Where have you been both of you, we searched the camp high and low and we did not find you at all." demanded the younger twin impatiently, he was crossing his arms over his chest and tapping rapidly with his right leg on the soft grass.</p><p>"Do not fret, Ro. We were taking a break from your continuous nonsense." joked humorously the young sister, wide mischievous smile dancing on her lips.</p><p>"Nonsense! You are digging your grave early Estel, you know that!" threatened half-heartedly the older twin this time and she stuck her tongue out for her brothers then she dashed quickly away from their extending arms that sought to catch her. She knew she would be doomed if they caught her. They chased her for five minutes and finally they trapped her and tumbled her to the ground and started to to tickle her mercilessly. She laughed uncontrollably for few minutes then her face turned green and the twins noticed the sudden change and stilled their hands not dare to continue. </p><p>Estel sensed bile rose to her throat and her stomach flipped dangerously and she climbed to her feet quickly hid behind a bush and emptied the contents of her stomach. The sound of harsh retching reached the sharp ears of the twins and they dashed after their younger sister. They found her doubled over, coughing and vomiting violently. They were scared out of their mind. They never experienced vomiting and from the looks of it, it was not something pleasing.</p><p>"Elrohir, go quickly and fetch Ada. He will know what to do." the older twin ordered his younger twin with urgent tone in his voice. He approached the young ranger slowly and held her long brown hair away from her sweating forehead. Finally, the vomiting stopped leaving the brown-haired girl boneless, she leaned heavily on her older brother who steered her away from the messy foul substance.</p><p>The sound of rushing footsteps alerted the older twin to the return of his brother with their father. </p><p>"What's wrong Estel?" the worried father asked quickly when reached his ailing daughter. The girl cursed her luck silently, she had to go and worry her poor Ada more.</p><p>"My stomach flipped violently when I was laughing hard and I started vomiting with no apparent reason. Do not worry yourself, I am fine now." the old elf examined her pale sweating face and he was not at all convinced that his daughter could feel any better.</p><p>"Estel, I want to check you up before we are going on the way, the last thing I want that your condition became worse from the hard riding." the experienced healer talked gently to his sick child, the worry on his ageless face and the concern on his voice made the young girl consented to be checked up.</p><p>"Fine Ada. I will let you have your way, just made it quick." the elf-lord released a sigh of relief when he got the approval of his daughter, he was prepared for longer argument and strong protest to come from the hot-headed and stubborn young female.</p><p>"Elladan take your brother and brew a concoction to fight the nausea and add some honey stored on my pack because Estel hates the bitter taste of my concoctions." the twins realized that their father wanted some privacy to check their sister without hinderation, they bowed respectfully to their Ada and went to do the task asked of them.</p><p>The elf Lord asked the young ranger to open her moth to see if there was any infection on her throat or tonsils, he found none. He listened carefully to her breathing and he did not detect any rattling sound coming from her lungs. He checked her pulse and found it regular. He started to check her abdomen, he started to put some pressure in specific areas around her abdomen to see any swelling, or any accompanying pain to the said pressure but there was no pain or apparent swelling. Everything seemed normal. </p><p>During the accurate examination the young girl stayed silent waiting for the older healer to find the source of her ailment. When her father finished his check up, she looked hopefully to her father to know the result of his examination but she noticed the deep frown on the fair face of the ancient elf. She felt growing apprehension gnawing at her troubled heart. She expected the worst that her father found something fatal killing her from inside out. She did not want to die young, she has many things to live for. She mastered all her courage and asked with trembling voice,</p><p>"What's wrong with me, Ada?" she stared fearfully at her father waiting to hear the worst but her father rubbed at his chin thoughtfully and said,</p><p>"You are perfectly fine. All your vital organs work just fine, I do not know the real reason of your sickness. Maybe you ate something bad or just a passing thing on the air. Just drink your medicine and wear the thickest cloak you have and we can go on our way. Do not hesitate to tell me if you feel something wrong." a small smile appeared on the youthful face upon hearing that she did not suffer from life-threatening disease and she thanked her Ada for his concern and gulped down the concoction her brothers brought to her and she mounted her faithful steed and went on her way alongside the elves and the Dunedain. </p><p>Three days later, the Noldor-elves reached the borders of their beloved home. One more time, Estel's family tried to convince her to stay with them for a while but she promised them to spend the festivals of the new year with them. It means that she only has three months to finish the long list of tasks she mush do for her people before she took a short break and join her elven family. </p><p>Finally, they parted their ways and Aragona led her subordinates through the misty mountain and the woods beyond it and head north to their hidden village. After four days of the hard ride, they arrived their home at the evening of the fourth day. The families of the Dunedain celebrated the safe arrival of their young leader and the warriors accompanied her in this mission.</p><p>Aragona visited the families of the six warriors who lost their lives fighting against the dark forces of Sauron. She apologized truthfully for them that they lost their lives under her command but the relatives of those fallen warriors knew the risks of their chosen life and assured her that they did not hold her responsible for their early death and they spent the whole night paying respect to their honored pure souls.</p><p>Life in Mirkwood became much easier than before, the wood-elves enjoyed the temporary peace came after finishing of most of the nests of the huge poisonous spiders that used to attack them day and night. The attacks of orcs, wargs and Yurk-hai became lesser day after day. </p><p>King Thranduil was really delighted of the peaceful days his people were enjoying thanks to the great help of the Dunedain and the Noldor-elves. The news of injured guards or warriors became rarer every going day. Everything was as should be except for his son, Prince Legolas. The doting father noticed some strange changes on his young son, he seemed absent-minded most of the time. </p><p>Sometimes, when the blonde father was discussing something with his only heir, he found the elfling staring at him unblinkingly but no really seeing him as if his mind was elsewhere. He sometimes forgot to eat his food, or doing some of his chores and that never happened before. The father became really worried, he tried more than once to make the elfling open up to him and tell him what was his problem but his trials seemed futile. The young prince was sharp-witted and evaded his father effectively.</p><p>The young prince took a liking to visit a certain oak tree where he used to sit under it with the young Dunadan during her stay in the palace. They shared stories about their adventures, the things they liked the most and the things they hate. Funny jokes were said followed by loud giggles escaping both of their mouths. For some unknown reason, the young elf felt more relaxed and content being here where he held the best memories he made during his long life.</p><p>Legolas was surprised when he started to feel queasy and light-headed after two or three weeks of the departure of their guests. He felt that his soul was crying seeking to be released and going elsewhere. He felt that he was needed but who needs him or where he was not sure. He felt really depressed and sometimes angry with himself for his inability to discover what's wrong with himself. He felt the growing worry appearing on his father's eyes everytime his eyes landed on him but he had no words of comfort for his father. He felt lost and forsaken. Sleep did not bring him any rest or peace. When he fall asleep, he saw a pair of sparkling grey eyes watching him. Sometimes, those eyes were radiating with love and compassion and sometimes flashing with deep anger and contempt, they were accusing him of being selfish and self-centered un-honorable bratty elf. Those eyes were torturing him without mercy.</p><p>Another two months passed and the life with the young lady of the Dunedain could not be much harder. She worked without rest to secure food, clean water, enough healing herbs and weapons for her people. She also led some warriors every now and then to answer the call of help of other close villages that fell under severe attacks of the orcs or goblins. She helped in healing many injured people either from her village or from other villages. She was so exhausted and weary especially she had to fight her own ailing. </p><p>Since the young girl left her father and brothers, she suffered from strange fatigue. Any simple task she did, took its toll on her exhausted body. Nausea never left her, she vomited every now and then. She became disgusted of some certain smells, she could not stomach certain kinds of food. The only thing she wanted so much to wrap herself in a thick blanket and sleep but this simple thing is far-fetched when you are a leader to a whole village full of people old and young. Simply, there was no time for being idle, or lazy. </p><p>The young healer returned to her small hut where her real parents used to reside. She dragged her weary body to a wooden stool and flopped down on it heavily. She just helped in delivering a young infant, the delivery was difficult and there was a big chance that both the mother and the un-born baby not make it alive but she assisted the midwife and together they managed to save the mother and the baby.</p><p>The young ranger turned her face and looked at her reflection on the long mirror hanged on the wooden wall and she did not like what she saw. Her face was really pale, her lips lost their healthy tinge and turned almost white. Dark circles appeared clearly under her eyes showing how tired and unhealthy she became. She thought worriedly of her own mysterious sickness, she did not find the source of her sickness. She could only try to lessen the symptoms with her healing herbs but she still suffered much.</p><p>She thought once more of her list of symptoms then her mind travelled to a simple talk she had with the woman delivered her baby this day and to her horror she found out that she shared many symptoms with this woman during her pregnancy. Suddenly, Aragona stumbled backwards and almost fell, only her hand that clutched the wooden chair tightly prevented her from falling. </p><p>For three months, this possiblity never passed her mind and she cursed her stupidity and ignorance. </p><p>She cursed her bad luck harshly, how her body betrayed her this way. Why she should pay forever for her simple mistake. She will spend the rest of her life with a reminder of what she dreamt of and never achieved. Hot salty tears started to run down her pale checks, her tears turned to wails but there was no one to comfort her and promise that everything will be fine. Only the sound of silence and emptiness replied her.</p><p>To be continued....</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Waiting for your comments and suggestions to encourage me to go forward.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Long way back to home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please, read, enjoy and leave a comment.<br/>I wish you don't disappoint me by forgetting to drop a comment.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter Elven</strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The lady of the Dunedain gathered some of her meager belongings in a small satchel and fastened her sword and daggers into her belt and shouldered her bow and quiver and wrapped herself tightly in a thick woolen cloak to fend off the bite of the frigid air then she trudged towards the small hut housing her cousin, Halbarad.</p><p>She knocked loudly on the wooden door and waited for a response. A few moments later, a grumbling sleepy middle-aged man opened the door, his handsome face showed his annoyance of the intruder who dared to wake him at this early hour. His annoyance vanished quickly when he saw the figure of his young cousin and his lady. He smiled brightly forgetting his sleepiness, he ushered her to go inside, and the young lady swiftly obliged. She discarded her small pack on the high wooden table in the middle of the room and sat comfortably on a chair beside the table.</p><p>Halbarad noticed the satchel and the full traveling garments and the weapons so he curiously asked,</p><p>"Are you going somewhere in this early hour, Aragona." </p><p>"Aye, I promised Lord Elrond that I will return home before the new year's festivals and we have only two weeks before the new year starts so I find this time proper for traveling. I do not want to be late." the young brown-haired ranger explained quickly, she prayed that her cousin won't question her more because she could not tell him right now about her other reason for her sudden departure.</p><p>The older Dunedain sensed her discomfort and suspected there was something the young girl was not sharing with him but he did not want to press her to confess. Reluctantly, he nodded his head accepting her reasoning, and offered generously,</p><p>"Do you want me to accompany you to the hidden valley? the way is so long and you do not exactly know what you may encounter before reaching there."</p><p>"No, Hal, you must stay here to take care of the others in my absence and do not worry about me, I promise I will be super careful and I won't go searching for troubles on the way." she grinned toothily at her cousin who was eyeing her suspiciously not at all convinced of her capacity to stay away from dangers.</p><p>"Fine. Take care and arrive in one piece and do not forget to deliver my greetings to Lord Elrond and the twins." he approached her and crushed her to his chest and caressed her hair gently and she returned the embrace with the same vigor. </p><p>Aragona's faithful cousin accompanied her to the stables and helped her fastened her pack into the saddle of her white mare and paid her farewell and stood quietly watching her riding away until she disappeared from his sight.</p><p>The young lady rode hard and did not take many rests, she wanted badly to reach her destination as fast as possible. She felt dread to encounter any life-threatening creatures, she was not afraid for her life but right now she was responsible for another growing life inside her and she had to make sure of its safety. </p><p>The hard ride made her back aching fiercely, and the high speed made her light-headed. But she resumed her hard riding until she had the urge to relieve her full bladder or empty her queasy stomach. She felt totally miserable but her longing for the safety and comfort of her home gave her the strength needed to go forward.</p><p>Fortunately, she passed the dangerous woods that separated the Northern kingdom from the misty mountain without meeting any real troubles. She only had three more days and she would be in the home of her childhood. </p><p>Lord Elrond was signing some paperwork, he was not really sure from where all these papers and scrolls came from, he made a note to ask Erestor about them later. While he was working, his mind refused totally to focus on the task at his hands. His thoughts kept travelling to his absent youngest daughter. For some unknown reason, he felt anxious about her. When they parted ways from her, she was not feeling so good. He was afraid that her condition did not get better or she became sicker or injured in one of her ceaseless fights with the dark forces.</p><p>He sighed heavily, it seemed he would not be doing any real work while his mind did not cooperate with him, he had to do something to relieve his worried heart and lessen the troubled dark thoughts his mind kept weaving about the safety of his lovely young daughter. He left his study and the pile of paperwork and went to search for his friend Glorfindel, the mighty balrog-slayer. After some searching, the elven-healer found the blond captain in the training field teaching some young elves how to use the blade skillfully.</p><p>The dark-haired lord smiled ruefully when he remembered a young brown-haired girl standing in the same field not so long ago carrying a long blade clashing it deftly with the sword of the same blond warrior. Her skill and agility captured the eyes of most of the elves and gained the envy of her young elven peers. He felt saddened that humans grew up so quickly and they did not enjoy their childhood for some time before duty and responsibility laid heavily on their shoulders. How he wished to share his immortality with his youngest child, how he dreamt of a way to relieve her of her harsh destiny but he was incapable of doing anything to help his poor child other than being always there for her and being a shoulder to cry on it when everything seemed too much.</p><p>The elf Lord cleared his throat and called for the blond warrior,</p><p>"Glorfindel, sorry for interrupting your lesson but I want to have a word with you." the blond captain immediately ordered the young elves to train together and he marched swiftly towards his lord. When he stood in front of him, he asked,</p><p>"What is the matter, mellon-nin? Is everything okay?" the balrog-slayer sensed the uneasiness and the tension in the elf's noble features.</p><p>"I am worried about Estel. I could sense something wrong with her, she promised me to come home before Yule so if nothing delayed her she should be in her way to the hidden valley. Though, I feel so concerned about her safety, can you seek her out and make sure she comes safely?" the disturbance and turmoil in the eyes of the worried father were enough to push the golden-haired elf to accept without hesitation,</p><p>"Sure, mellon-nin. I will ride out and seek her out. Do not worry, I will bring Estel home safely. Give me half an hour to prepare myself and Asfolath and we will be on our way." the elven-lord smiled gratefully and squeezed the shoulder of his friend lightly in an offer of gratitude and said,</p><p>"Thank you, Mellon. You are the best. Now, I can return to the paperwork before the old grumbling Erestor noticed my lack of work and gave a lecture." the balrog-slayer laughed hard at the statement drawing a mental picture of a pouting dark-haired elf who was rebuking harshly his poor friend. "Go quickly Elrond or a dark fate would be waiting for you". </p><p>The two lords departed each other each one went to do the task at hand. True to his word, Lord Glorfidel mounted his faithful stallion after half an hour and the lord of the valley watched his friend leaving from the huge window in his study. He prayed for the safe return of his daughter and friend.</p><p>Riding by the foot of the huge intimidating mountain, the young human girl pushed her mare forward to the verge of exhaustion. For some unknown reason, she felt great uneasiness riding alone in this deserted area. It seemed that the ranger's good fortune ended after arriving in this dark mountain. The wind picked its pace making dust and dry leaves moving in whirlwind effectively obscuring the road in front of the traveling Dunadan. Few hours later, the sky darkened as heavy clouds accumulated then the heavy drops of rain started falling drenching the unfortunate girl from head to toe.</p><p>The blond warrior looked at the darkened sky in dismay, few minutes later he was overly wet although he was not feeling cold, the feeling of wet clothes clung to his body is not comfortable at all. His long blond strands fell on his face and he kept pushing them from his eyes. His thoughts traveled to the poor young girl who was making her way right now towards her home. He prayed that she could find a shelter to protect her from this harsh weather. She unlike him prone to fall sick by this biting coldness and the raging storm.</p><p>Aragona led her white mare towards some clusters of rock at the bottom of the misty mountain to protect herself and her mare from this growing storm. She was pleased when she spotted the opening of a cave on the side of the rocky mountain. The cave was dark and silent so she guessed that it is empty. It was large enough for her mare to be sheltered inside the cave. The young ranger opened her satchel and fumbled with its contents until she found some dry branches she gathered from the woods she traveled through in case she needed to light a fire. </p><p>She skillfully made a medium fire and she started to get rid of her soaking clothes, she took a big towel from her pack and dried her hair and body as fast as she mastered and put on spare clothes she brought with her just in case. She spread her wet clothes beside the fire to dry. She sighed in relief when he finished her task and she sat wearily on the hard ground staring at the dancing flames. Her mind started to wander to what would be the reaction of her family and friends when they discovered that she is pregnant, are they going to accept the growing life or would they be angry with her and her child, would they accuse her of infidelity, would they consider her child a bastard or could they be happy for her and just accept the child to stay and grow in the same house his/her mother grew in. </p><p>Exhausted from the long journey, the hard ride, and the effects of pregnancy on her changing body, the young lady quickly fell asleep in her sitting position leaning her head backwards on the cave's rocky wall. A few hours later, the young ranger waked up abruptly sensing rather than seeing an unknown danger lurking in the darkness. She strained her ears to catch the faintest sounds coming from deep in the cave. At last, she picked the sound of footsteps moving stealthily to where she was sitting, she jumped instantly to her feet and gathered her scattered belongings and hurriedly stuffed them into her small pack then she whispered for her mare to follow her outside and the white animal followed her obediently.</p><p>Outside, the heavy rain rendered to some drizzle, the young warrior tied her satchel it\nto the saddle and quickly mounted her loyal mare and ordered her to go as fast as she can and the mare neighed her consent and she carried her master quickly away from the unknown threat. Unfortunately, the ranger's escape did not go unnoticed by her pursuits and they followed her outside the cave. </p><p>Hearing the sound of running feet behind her, the young ranger risked looking back to see what were the creatures trailing her and to her dismay, she found about a dozen of cave goblins dashing after her galloping mare. They started shrieking and cursing her and some of them were trying to hunt her by aiming their short spears and dark arrows. Fearfully, she ordered her mare to go faster, she had to duck her head more than once to avoid being hit with their flying projectiles.  </p><p>The foul creatures kept pacing after their prey refusing to lose her for the good part of an hour, the young rider almost succeeded in losing her pursuers then out of nowhere, a dark arrow caught one of the white mare's legs. The pained animal reared violently throwing her master hard on the ground. The sudden impact with the hard ground knocked all the air from the young girl and she groaned loudly when she tried to shift from her awkward position. Suddenly, sharp pain in Aragona's low abdomen made her double over, she let a soft strangled cry escape her mouth, she stayed still in this position trying to will the pain to go away not paying any attention to the fast-approaching threat.</p><p>A young blond prince was resting between the sturdy branches of one of the oldest trees in the forest surrounding his home, he was enjoying the solitude away from the hustle and bustle in his father's courts. He also was hiding from his Ada who kept his keen eyes transfixed on his only son trying to pinpoint what was troubling his only offspring through the past three months. The young prince loves his Ada but he lately felt the too much attention suffocating so he slipped away from his father and his daily tasks to enjoy the peace of the quiet woods. He rested his head on the sturdy trunk of the ancient tree and closed his eyes. Unintentionally, he fell asleep and dreamt of the breathtaking silver-blue eyes but he startled awake for an unknown reason then he was attacked with sharp pain in his middle and a sense of foreboding attacked him fiercely. </p><p>To be continued,,,,, </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please, encourage me with your kind comments.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Blood Bond</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I do not know if you like my story but I will go forward anyway to enrich female Aragorn stories because they are so few.<br/>If you like this story, tell me you like it.<br/>If you see something needed to be added or changed feel free to tell me.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Nothing bad will last forever</strong> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u"> <strong>Chapter Twelve </strong> </span>
</p><p> </p><p>The blond rider nudged his majestic white horse to go forward as hard as it could because his honed senses told him that there was something dangerous lurking in the distance in front of them, and he badly feared for the safety of his lord's youngest child. He knew the young girl is a skilled brilliant warrior but if the numbers of enemies were too much, skill and courage would not be enough.</p><p>Aragona felt some of the pain subdued a little and she risked to move slightly. When she raised her head, she realized the real danger she was in, many dark short figures were running towards her raising their dirty rusty weapons to attack her. She cursed her bad luck and pushed her body from the ground with effort and her experienced hands found her way to her faithful weapon. She hurriedly unsheathed her sword and waited for the first wave to attack. </p><p>With a mighty scream, she started to strike as hard as she can any foul creature dared to approach her and raise its weapon against hers. The fire of her desire to protect the growing life inside her blazed greatly and gave her weary injured body the energy and strength needed to fend off her opponents.</p><p>The fight continued for half-hour but her arms started to weakened from the constant strain of carrying the heavy sword and her movement started to be more sluggish and inaccurate than before. She started to miss her targets more and more and finally she did her first deadly mistake and left an opening in her defence and that resulted in permitting for a small goblin to pierce her left shoulder with it's dirty poison coated blade. A resounding scream escaped her lips but she gathered the last of her strength and finished the goblin that injured her then her legs buckled under her and she fell backwards in a motionless heap.</p><p>The fallen warrior prayed to God that her death would not be painful and sent an apology to her un-born baby to forgive her in failing to protect him/her. She closed her eyes waiting for the final blow but it had not come. She only heard disturbance between the short assailants and the sound of running hooves of a speeding horse. She cracked her eyes open and what she saw stunned her.</p><p>An elven warrior with following blond hair riding a huge mighty horse was standing between her and her attackers raising his shining blade daring any dim-witted creature to put a fight with him. She smiled softly and sighed in relief, thinking in her mind that the elf she fell in love with came to rescue her in her dire time. With that comforting thought she closed her eyes surrendering to the darkness of unconsciousness.</p><p>The mighty balrog-slayer stroke right and left effortlessly finishing his opponents who were rushing to meet their end by his sharp blade. In twenty minutes, he successfully finished all the remaining goblins and he hurriedly dismounted and knelt before the unconscious figure of the young girl whom he loved as his own child. He assessed her injures and found the deep gash caused by a black arrow. He also found some surficial cuts and some blue bruises. </p><p>Glorfindel is a mighty skilled warrior but his knowledge about healing is highly limited so he did the only thing came to his mind. He gathered the slim body of the young ranger between his arms and mounted his horse determined to get the young girl to her father to provide her with the medical attention she needed. When he started his way back to the hidden valley, he noticed the injured mare belonging to Estel and he quickly assured the frightened animal that he would sent someone to help her and take her back to Imladris.</p><p>Throughout the short journey, the blond elf noticed the slight tremors running through the slender body of the brown-haired girl and he wondered if the arrow was peppered with some foul poison making havoc on the immune system of the unconscious girl. After an hour of the hard riding, the elven-warrior's fear for the girl increased incredibly when he felt hot blood soaking her pants, he did not notice any more visible wounds so he feared for internal bleeding. He ordered his stallion to go faster and Asfolath obeyed sensing the urgency of the matter so he ran as hard as his leg permitted.</p><p>The dark-haired lord of Imladris was pacing in his study like a caged animal, he was sensing the pain and distress coming in waves from his youngest child and the only thing he could do was praying that his blond friend reach her in time to provide aid. He kept pacing restlessly for more than an hour then he heard the sound of running horses and he thought that Estel and Glorfidel made it to home safely but when he looked from his study's balcony he discovered that his twin sons arrived home after their hunting trip. He saw them calling for some servants to help them to carry the games they caught. He was grateful for his sons' safety but he was hoping that Estel had been the one who returned so he could stop worrying.</p><p>Another hour passed and the elven lord started to feel dizzy from the long pacing but he did not have the heart to rest. He heard another hooves of a madly speeding horse entering the courtyard, one look from his balcony and the famous healer felt dismayed. He noticed the motionless form of his youngest safely tucked to his friend's chest. The elf Lord wanted to fly to his daughter's side not having the patience to run through the many corridors leading to the courtyard, the mighty lord did something he did not dare for many many years. He gathered his long robes with one arm and he jumped gracefully over the railing of the balcony and landed soundlessly on the hard ground then he rushed directly towards the standing horse carrying his child.</p><p>The blond warrior spotted his half-elven lord and sighed in relief knowing that Estel soon will be treated properly. When the experienced healer was by their side, Glorfindel told him briefly of the young girl's condition and transferred her carefully to her father's waiting arms then he dismounted and followed the hurrying healer towards the healing wards.</p><p>The twins heard the gasps of shock and surprise of some elves on the corridors and got out of their rooms to check what happened and they met with the sight of their father running towards the healing chambers carrying the doll like form of their little sister after they overcame their shock, they followed their father towards the healing wards to provide him any help he might need.</p><p>The distraught father put his young daughter gently on the soft bed and started his work on cutting her tunic and under-shirt to examine the wound of around the arrow. To his dismay, the area around the deep gash darkened and was inflamed. He had to pull the arrow first to take care of the wound. He motioned for the twins to hold their sister to prevent her thrashing while he was pulling the offending projectile. With an experienced tug, the arrow left the abused flesh and the hot blood started to flow rapidly out of the wound. The young ranger started to flail her arms trying weakly to escape the source of the pain but her brothers we holding her tightly to give their Ada the freedom needed to clean the wound. </p><p>The gasps of pain filled the healing chamber and with every gasp of pain, the hearts of the three elves were twisted painfully inside their chests. They hated badly to hurt the young girl but they had to do what they were doing out of their love and fear for the young one's life. They could not leave her wounds un-treated, she could die of infection or blood loss so their resolve intensified to work faster and end this hell faster.</p><p>After cleaning, stitching and dressing the wound tightly, they heaved sighs of relief and relaxed a bit. But the young ranger seemed still restless and in pain so the ancient healer was about to go to mix some herbs to reduce the pain when one trembling hand of the young girl grasped the hand of her foster-father preventing him from going away. She murmured some faint words of " baby....save...help... losing " but the elven-lord could not understand what his daughter was trying to tell him, he thought she was delirious due to poison or blood loss but the young ranger guided his hand weakly to his abdomen. Few seconds and the eyes of the skilled healer were wide with shock, he strained his ears to make sure of what he sensed and he really could catch additional heartbeat ...no...no...he could hear two more additional heartbeats other than his daughter's erratic weak heartbeat.</p><p>Then the experienced eyes caught the soaked pants and he realized what his daughter was trying to say. She was bleeding and she was asking him to save her unborn child ...no children. The elf Lord asked his twin sons to wait for him outside so he could work in private saving his youngest child's modesty. He quickly and efficiently started to examine the state of the womb and the water around the babies and he fumbled with his herbs to find something to stop the bleeding and decrease the violent uterine contractions that may lead to abortion. He made a warm tea of some herbs that should help and he carefully helped his injured daughter to drink it sip by sip.</p><p>The worried father ordered his daughter to try to relax his body and muscles as much as she could to help her womb to settle and she tried to obey but the sharp pain in her womb mixed with pain of her wounds made it impossible for her to relax completely so the old healer reluctantly drugged his daughter to force her to relax. The elf Lord waited impatiently to see if the medicine will stop the bleeding and the contractions after some time, the girl's uterine stopped to contract and only slight blood kept flowing.</p><p>But the elven-lord noticed the sluggish heartbeat of his daughter and the heartbeats of the unborn twins seemed too faint to be there and his panic rose greatly when his daughter lungs seemed strained to be filled with the needed air. He realized that after-all what he had done, his daughter is not strong enough to heal and her precious life was slipping quickly from his hands. He was not sure what he could do to prevent this misery but he knew he could do nothing more than what he did so he knelt beside his daughter's bed and grasped her cold hand and started to pray to God to be merciful and spare her life and the life of his grand-children.</p><p>When nothing changed in her condition, he stood and paced the healing room in rage, he did not want to surrender but he could think of nothing, he cursed his inability to stop her from drifting away then a crazy idea struck him unwillingly and he smiled maniacally and said to the empty room, "I have nothing to lose".</p><p>He brought a chair and sat beside the bed where his daughter laying motionlessly and caught both of her hands tenderly on his larger one and he started to recite some strange words in a language long-forgotten. He will apply a ritual used back in the past in Gondolin before its fall. The ritual was supposed to be used between only the elven family members and it could end in dangerous results if it was applied on mortals. The ritual was a blood Bond between the family members permitting the elves to share their body energies, life resources, exchanging some certain gifts between the family members. Therefore, if there was a dying elf, he could be revived using the life energy of his family members until he could be well enough to depend on his own energy and strength.</p><p>For a long time, Elrond wished to apply this ritual on his mortal daughter to prolong her life or to cure her when she was extremely I'll in her childhood years but he feared the dangerous results if the bond rejected. The mortal would surely die and the elf who was trying to be bonded to the mortal will lose his or her immortality and turned to mortal himself. So the half-elf feared to use this ritual in the past but right now his daughter will die anyway together with her un-born children if he tried his luck with this ritual and he had no fear for his life at this moment, all his thoughts focused on his daughter and his grand-children.</p><p>The elven lord was sure the babies are more than half-eleves because his daughter told him she slept with an elf from Mirkwood and she herself had some elven blood running inside her veins so he was positive that the ritual would be approved on the children but his daughter is considered a mortal but deep inside him, he knew that in her soul and mind she is more elf than human and that should make her considered a predehel like him. </p><p>The lord sent a short prayer to God to help him do the right thing and he started the ritual. If the ritual accepted a bright light will surround the ailing person and healing will follow after that but if it was rejected dark light will surround the ailing person and in few minutes his/her life would be lost forever and he himself would turn into a mortal. The Lord waited fearfully for the result of the bond.</p><p>In the beginning, nothing happened at all and the panic raised to high levels inside the heart of the old healer then a slight light started to surround the abdomen area where the children reside then slowly the light started to brighten more and more and engulfed the body of his daughter wholly. </p><p>A squeal of victory and pure happiness escaped the lips of the supper delighted father because right now he could call Estel his daughter by blood, mind and soul to complete the final stage of the ritual, he brought a small surgical knife and made a small cut in each of his hands and did the same cuts on the hands of his daughter then he pressed their hands together effectively mixed his elven blood with hers. </p><p>Few minutes after the end of the rituals, Estel's heartbeat became stronger and the heartbeats of the un-born babies also started to beat steadily and stronger than before. He raised her smiling face towards the heaven and sent a prayer of gratitude to the Almighty who gave him this thought and provide him with the strength to complete it right.</p><p>Finally, the twins, Glorfindel and Erestor could not have more patience, they burst into the healing room to make sure of the young girl's safety. They noticed the big content smile of their lord's face and upon noticing their questioning gazes, the elf Lord answered proudly,</p><p>"Do not worry for Estel's life, I managed to save hers and the life of her un-born children." a chorus of gasps of shock escaped the standing elves and the ancient healer nodded his head and placed his gentle warm hand on his daughter's stomach and said playfully,</p><p>"Yes, you heard right my Estel will soon grant me with my first grand-children." the funny looks on the stunned elves' faces made the dark-haired lord to burst into a fit of laughter.</p><p>To be continued......</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I will remind you my request to leave a comment because I won't lie I feel extremely happy when I read your comments and I feel deeply disappointed when I find so few comments or non at all.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>